Credit: Bravo
Heather Thomson is opening up about her issues with Leah McSweeney.
After cutting her part-time role on The Real Housewives of New York City short due to a number of uncomfortable moments with 38-year-old Leah, Heather explained what line Leah crossed during filming and slammed her former co-star as “vulgar.”
“We’d be talking and then the camera would go on and it would be a different scenario. I think there’s a line that gets crossed,” Heather, 50, told Us Weekly on June 5. “I am very much about individuality and letting people be who they are. I say it on the show, exposing one’s body, that kind of talk empowers some people. Some people being buttoned up and a little bit more polite, someone would say empowers other people. I’m not going to judge that.”
According to Heather, she wasn’t personally bothered by Leah’s behavior but felt that she had to make certain choices for her two children, son Jax and daughter Ella Rae, who she shares with husband Jonathan Schindler.
“It was uncomfortable for me being a mother. Where she crossed a line [is] saying what a man’s worth is,” she clarified. “That crossed the line for me on so many levels because I would never diminish a man to that. I was offended on different levels. My kid’s faces, like, flashed in front of me sitting at that table.”
In recent weeks, Leah has spoken graphically about sex and even suggested that if a man doesn’t do certain things in the bedroom, he’s no man at all.
Although Heather said she isn’t easily offended, she found Leah’s mouth to be quite “vulgar.”
“It’s just not what I talk about. I swear like a sailor, I have a potty mouth. I say the f word all the time. … I’m not offended by that type [of] talk. I don’t think people should be,” she explained. “However … when I’m in mixed company, I try to judge the crowd, so to speak. I think if you’re making someone uncomfortable, maybe you can pivot. But also that person that you’re making uncomfortable also could try to pivot. There’s always cooperation to be had. There’s always a way to meet in the middle.”
During a recent episode of RHONY, Heather was confronted about a September episode of her podcast in which she and guest Carole Radziwill, 57, reflected on their time on the show and spoke about the “hard drugs” that were allegedly in the possession of their castmates.
Looking back, Heather said she wasn’t surprised to see Leah attempting to use their comments against her.
“She only read the headlines. No one at that table actually listened to the podcast. So I knew she was going to gun for me,” Thomson said. “I was given a heads-up … from one of the other women on the show.”
While she likely appreciated the heads-up given to her by the unnamed member of the RHONY cast, Heather said she wasn’t worried about her confrontation with Leah.
“I still to this day, stand behind the podcast and everything that I have said about the franchise, my experience on the franchise, [and] all the women on the franchise,” she confirmed.
The Real Housewives of New York City season 13 airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.