Andy Cohen Opens Up About Impact of Leaks on RHONJ

Since its inception, “The Real Housewives” franchise has always had a very active fan community, with blogs and news outlets covering broad and specific topics related to the franchise all year round, including leaking information from filming before a season has aired.

While Housewives across the country have spoken about “the blogs” on the series before (sometimes questioning their accuracy), Bravo executive Andy Cohen shared his thoughts on the blogs on his SiriusXM show “Radio Andy”.

“Well I love the bloggers. They support the show and they promote it,” Cohen said in a July 15 clip from his radio show shared by the fan account @bravosnarkside on Instagram. “What I don’t like is — and it seems like it’s happened with Jersey in a way that is unlike any other franchise — I don’t like the amount of leaks. There’s a lot of screenshots coming out from a lot of the castmates and I think Teresa’s lawyer is somehow involved.”

Andy Cohen Thinks RHONJ is Ready for ‘New Direction’

Cohen went on to say that in light of tensions on RHONJ season 14 (which in part led to the season not having a regular reunion special), changes may need to be made to the series moving forward.

“So there are elements to the engagement with bloggers that have seemed to have added to the toxicity of the show, and what this show is supposed to be about is about a group of friends and wives and moms and sisters,” Cohen said on-air. “And when it gets into all of this other mishegoss that’s when we kind of lose the plot. And I think that’s partially where we are in New Jersey which is why we need to figure out a new direction.”

Cohen previously opened up about leaks in the franchise during a May 2023 appearance on the “Las Culturistas” podcast. At the time, Cohen said, “The [original] RHONY cast is the biggest leakers, and that’s what happened with the RHONY: Legacy contracts. It was like they were all leaking s*** about the thing, and then we wound up pulling the deal. We were like ‘You know what? We can’t do this.’”

Margaret Josephs Used a Screenshot Against Jackie Goldschneider in RHONJ Season 14

While not quite a leak to the public, RHONJ star Margaret Josephs leaked one of her castmate’s texts live on-camera during season 14. Fans saw Josephs get her husband Joe Benigno to signal Dolores Catania to check her phone during a conversation with Jackie Goldschneider in the June 16 episode “Gifts and Receipts”.

Catania told Goldschneider, “Sorry, I’m just checking on my dog,” as she looked down at her phone and saw a private text between Josephs and Goldschneider, where Goldschneider had written, “[Dolores is] a f***ing slob and I hate her,” in response to Catania not tagging her in an Instagram post. Goldschneider said she felt the move was intentional on Catania’s part in the text, but when confronted with her words was quick to apologize to Catania for the heat-of-the-moment text.

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