Kathy Griffin believes some “housewives” are “afraid” of Andy Cohen because he holds the fate of their careers in his hands.
“As long as he’s picking on the ‘Housewives’ and worried about the ‘Housewives,’ they’re probably going to be very scared of him, and I don’t blame them,” Griffin said on the “Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel” podcast on Thursday. . .
“I mean, these are women who are in that program, and a lot of them are getting DUIs… went to prison.”
As the Bravo bigwig faces a bombshell lawsuit from former “Actual Housewives of New York City” star Leah McSweeney for allegedly taking advantage of her alcoholism, the “My Life on the D-Record” alum informed host Uchitel that she believes reality TV producers “too strongly” encourage stars to “drink too much.”
“I pay attention to these women when they say we were assaulted with alcohol,” Griffin, 63, said. “I wouldn’t rule it out.”
While she doesn’t believe Cohen, 55, is “serving the drinks,” Griffin said serving alcohol to cast members “wouldn’t surprise her” given the “nature of the behavior” that appears in the “Housewives” franchise.
“If you don’t turn the tables, you could be fired,” she said. “In order to continue in the present, (they think), ‘I have to manufacture this drama.’”
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Unfortunately, Griffin stated that the elaborate drama led to “real penalties” for most of the “housewives.”
McSweeney, 41, sued Cohen in February, alleging that he and the network tried tirelessly to get her to relapse, but when she didn’t, production tried to mentally destabilize her to induce an on-camera breakdown.
She further alleged that Cohen used to snort cocaine with a circle of his favorite “housewives.”
“The allegations against Andy are completely false,” a rep for Cohen told Page Six at the time.
Years before the Married to the Mob designer’s lawsuit, Griffin actually claimed that the King of Bravo had supplied him with cocaine before appearing on his late-night show, “Watch What Happens Live.”
“Right before we moved in, Andy Cohen asked me privately in an office on Embassy Row — which is the company that does this — if I wanted to have sex,” Griffin said in a 2017 Twitter video.
“You know I’m not a prude, but I’m a bit blunt – I thought he was joking the first time.”
