RHOC’s Meghan King Weighs In on Leah McSweeney and Andy Cohen Lawsuit

Meghan King has mixed feelings about Leah McSweeney’s lawsuit against Andy Cohen and Bravo.

“I just know that when I signed my contract to be on the Real Housewives, and I think it’s a pretty standard contract amongst all the franchises, it said very explicitly, ‘We can take whatever footage you give us and we can manipulate it, and we can splice it and do whatever the hell we want to do with it,’” King, 39, exclusively told Us Weekly while chatting about her new real estate venture. “And you have to sign your life away or you don’t sign it at all. And does that make it a fair contract? That’s a different conversation.”

The Real Housewives of Orange County alum shared that she and her Real Housewives costars “understood” what it meant when they signed their respective contracts and entered the world of reality TV. While King wants reality TV to remain fun, she does believe that there needs to be a conversation about unscripted programming that focuses on the bigger picture.

“It shouldn’t be about Andy Cohen. It shouldn’t be about Bravo. It shouldn’t be about the Real Housewives,” she explained. “It should just be about the ethics of reality TV and what does that do for our psyche long term or royalties or whatever.”

Every Real Housewife Defending Andy Cohen After Leah McSweeney's Lawsuit

Last month, McSweeney, 41, filed a lawsuit against Cohen, 55, and Bravo. The RHONY alum claimed she was pressured to drink alcohol while filming despite her choice to be sober. In King’s experience, she shared that the pressure she felt to drink on camera came from a “typical societal and peer pressure” mindset rather than producers.

“If I’m going to go to a happy hour with girlfriends to celebrate a birthday, I’m going to feel like I should have a drink. Is anybody telling me to, does anybody care if I do? Absolutely not,” she explained. “But that’s what I’m doing. That’s how I’m showing up. So I think that’s a personal willpower type of thing.”

King noted that for those struggling with addiction, their choice to abstain should be “respected and honored” and should receive help if they ask. However, she doesn’t think that the responsibility is solely on the show’s production team.

Despite McSweeney’s accusations against Cohen, King ultimately defended the Bravo executive and told Us he was always “very supportive” toward her. She also recalled a time when Cohen stepped up for Gina Kirschenheiter, who is also sober, while filming an episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. The trio were playing the drinking game “Shots Ski” and when the cocktails got mixed up, Cohen spoke to production about the issue during a break.

“And then during [the] commercial, he gets on the production assistants [saying,] ‘You cannot do this. This could compromise her sobriety. This is really important. It’s not funny that this happened,’” King recalled. “So what I saw is Andy defending standing up for a sober person on one of his shows. It’s [the] complete opposite of what I read.”

Former ‘RHOC’ Stars: Where Are They Now?

After appearing on three seasons of RHOC, King has taken a step back from reality TV over the years and is currently pursuing a career in real estate, which has been a passion of hers. She revealed to Us she got her real estate license in her home state of Missouri and is currently working as a concierge agent across the country.

“I can still work with anybody from anywhere in the United States or around the world really by using,” she shared. “They use me as the concierge agent, meaning I set them up with an agent in their area, and then they can FaceTime me, text me 24/7, kind of as a sounding board. Just like a second opinion.”

King also has a memoir in the works where she discusses how she “overcame adversity” in her life.