Season 12 of The Real Housewives of New York finally premiered last night, and it was everything we needed and more.
Not only did we get to see what Dorinda, Luanne, Sonja, Tinsley, and Ramona have been up to since we last saw them, but new castmember, Leah McSweeney, also made her fabulous debut.
We learned quite a few things about the hilarious, New York native, including her 2002 arrest — mugshot and all — and the interesting way her 12-year-old daughter, Kiki, found out about it.
“I guess for a school project, she needed a photo of me, and she Googled me, which I should have told her never to do that,” Leah said. “And she was basically like, ‘Mom, why do you have a mugshot?’ So I had to tell her.”
However, McSweeny said, once she explained what happened, her daughter didn’t think much of it.
Leah shares the story of her arrest to her RHONY castmates
As for what led to Leah’s arrest, the 37-year-old recounts she was in her twenties at the time and was out with her crush at a concert.
During the wee hours of the morning, after the concert ended, they were in the street making out when police officers grabbed the young man and proceeded to beat him up.
“It was really scary. And I had a half-empty plastic water bottle with me and I threw it — not even directly at someone, just threw it in that direction,” she remembered. “It was just a total knee-jerk reaction. But it hit a cop in the back.”
What happened next was shocking
“He [the cop] turned around and lunged at me and punched me in the face,” she recalled. “I fell onto the sidewalk, and suddenly I had four cops on my back, cuffing me. I just felt so many knees on my back. And one of them slammed my face into the subway grates and knocked my tooth out.
“It was really bad,” she said, with a laugh. “And what’s worst, it was the Fourth of July! And I was in this cell doing situps, like, ‘What is life?’ How am I locked up on Independence Day? Leah, get your s— together!'”
Despite the horrible ordeal, something good came out of it
McSweeny eventually sued the police department and received $75,000, which she used to start her clothing label, Married to the Mob.
And that’s what we learned about Leah McSweeny last night.
What a refreshing addition to the cast. We can’t wait for next week’s episode to see more of this ballsy, honest, and funny New Yorker.
The Real Housewives of New York City airs Thursday nights at 9/8 central on Bravo.