Lara Sophia 
Leah McSweeney’s drinking antics may have made great reality TV during her first season on the Real Housewives of New York, but the Married to the Mob founder initially didn’t want fans knowing she had an issue with alcohol.
During season 12 of the Real Housewives of New York, fans say the Real Housewives‘ newbie drunkenly — and nakedly — hurling Tiki torches into the pool at co-star Ramona Singer’s house in the Hamptons.
“I think what I get approached about [by the public] the most — whether it’s in-person or direct messages or emails — is talking about addiction issues and alcoholism and how happy they were about how open I was about it, which, I actually didn’t want to be open about it,” said at a panel for the Paley Center and New York Post.
Leah recalls that when she started filming, she “[remembers] being like, ‘I’m not talking about drinking. I’m not making it a thing.’”
Fellow panelist and Real Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen chimed in and asked, “And then what happened?”
“And then that’s exactly what happened,” she replied.
“Me and alcohol have a very weird relationship. I didn’t drink for nine years, and I started again maybe six months ago,” Leah confessed during her debut episode of RHONY.
She also noted that “every 20 times [I drink], the one time it’s going to be me being a hot mess,” before adding that the last time she drank, she lost her Chanel bag and her passport.
“So I’m putting it back on pause for a little bit,” she admitted.
As you can imagine, said pause didn’t last very long. Leah endured more than a few drunken moments throughout the season; however, by the end of the season, she had recommitted to her sobriety.
In March, Leah celebrated a year of sobriety.
“People often ask me if I stopped drinking because I saw myself drunk on TV,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “I stopped drinking a couple days before the show even aired.”
“In hindsight, I’m so happy we did that. I am so grateful because I get so many direct messages and comments about it, and people who are like, ‘Hey, I stopped also,’ or ‘I have some years sober, and I watched you and [decided] I really don’t want to start drinking again,” Leah explained during the panel.
“Hearing that is very, very powerful,” she added.
The Real Housewives of New York City airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.
Are you surprised Leah didn’t want fans to know about her drinking issues? Sound off below!
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Source: Page Six
