By Emma Chance | TV | January 29, 2024 |
By Emma Chance | TV | January 29, 2024 |
News of former Real Housewives of New Jersey star, Caroline Manzo, making allegations of sexual assault against former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, Brandi Glanville, broke in early 2023, when it was leaked that they both made early exits of what was supposed to be Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip season 4 while it filmed in Morocco.
Manzo first spoke of the incident on Tamra Judge’s podcast, Two T’s in a Pod, calling it “traumatic.” Glanville then defended herself on Twitter, calling Manzo’s story “a fucking set up,” and saying she was hired for a second season of Girls Trip because “they LOVED what I did on the 1st season and I was told to bring the party just like before.” The first season she’s referencing is marred by even more allegations against her of inappropriate behavior.
I'm fucking sick of this narrative.I was hired for a 2nd season of girls trip cuz they LOVED what I did on 1st season I was told to bring the party just like before & that's exactly what I did & Iwas punished for it. It feels like a fucking set up. It's BS & Caroline was fine
— Brandi Glanville (@BrandiGlanville) March 30, 2023
Girls Trip is a production of Peacock and Bravo’s sister production company, Shed Media. They made the following statement at the time of Manzo’s initial allegations:
“The safety and security of cast and crew while shooting is extremely important and we take all reports seriously. In this situation, production immediately launched a comprehensive review and is taking appropriate action.”
Well, Manzo didn’t agree that the “action” taken was “appropriate,” so she’s suing Bravo and its sister companies. Glanville is not being sued but named “as an employee of the defendants.” The lawsuit, filed Friday in the New York State Supreme Court, claims “Glanville forcibly kissed” Manzo and “groped, grabbed, and forcibly fondled [her] vagina and breasts.” It also alleges producers were “listening to the interaction on audio” but “never opened the door or took any other action to intervene and stop the sexual assault.”
Manzo says she stated, “I got abused,” after the incident for producers and others to hear, then shared the details with her family and two members of production the next morning.
“Defendants had overwhelming prior notice of Ms. Glanville’s prior deviant sexual proclivities and sexually harassing conduct. However, despite this knowledge, Defendants wrongfully continued to hire Glanville for their shows. Defendants allowed, condoned and even encouraged Ms. Glanville’s sexually aggressive and offensive conduct on others on the sets,” reads the suit. It further claims that producers “regularly ply the Real Housewives with alcohol, cause them to become severely intoxicated, and then direct, encourage and/or allow them to sexually harass other cast members because that is good for ratings.”
“We believe this cast is about the network’s selfishly sacrificing the wellbeing of their talent for ratings and profit,” said Manzo’s attorney. “Brandi Glanville stated she was simply doing what the producers told her to do. Reality TV is leading to severe emotional and physical harm of its talent. This must stop.”
I think suing Bravo is totally called for in this case, but I think suing Glanville would have been too. Through the years there has been ample evidence of Housewives behaving in ways they normally may not have because producers told them so, but there is also ample evidence of Brandi being an unstable lech.
But don’t worry, Bethenny Frankel is circling. It’s only a matter of time before one or both of them is on her podcast.