The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip executive producer Lisa Shannon claims in new legal documents that Caroline Manzo told producers she “did not feel sexually violated” by Brandi Glanville, but that she felt “disrespected.”
As previously reported by ET, Manzo filed a lawsuit against Bravo, Peacock, NBCUniversal and Shed Media — the producers behind the show — over an alleged “traumatic” incident with Glanville while on The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip in Morocco in early 2023.
According to the lawsuit obtained by ET, which was filed by Manzo in January, the Real Housewives of New Jersey alum claims a “clearly intoxicated” Glanville sexually harassed her and kissed her without consent during the filming of the Real Housewives spinoff.
Glanville has vehemently denied the allegations as “demonstrably false,” while her lawyers have slammed NBCUniversal and Bravo for not coming to Glanville’s defense.
In the new court documents obtained by ET, which were filed on Tuesday, the show’s executive producer did not claim that an incident occurred between Manzo and Glanville, but rather that Manzo allegedly told the production that she didn’t want to stop filming because of it.
“After the incident between Manzo and Glanville on January 24, 2023, Manzo disclosed her childhood trauma to a member of the production staff, who relayed this information to me. This information was not known to production,” Shannon claims. “Manzo revealed to us, for the first time, that she had suffered sexual trauma as a child and that Glanville’s actions that evening had triggered memories of that childhood trauma. She told us that she did not feel sexually violated, she felt ‘disrespected’ by Glanville.”
“Our primary concern at that point was making sure that Manzo felt safe,” Shannon claims. “She told us that she felt safe, that she wanted to continue to film, and that she did not want Glanville to be sent home.”
Shannon claimed that the production took steps to ensure that Manzo was not left alone with Glanville in the days that followed, and that they “promptly took several actions to make Manzo feel safe, comfortable, and supported, regardless of the impact it had on the show.”
According to Shannon, Glanville was sent to a different hotel room from the rest of the cast, and did not stay with the other cast members for the remainder of the production.
Shannon claims that Manzo addressed the situation with the other cast members the next day — including Phaedra Parks and Gretchen Rossi, among others — and they allegedly all told Manzo that they had interpreted the situation differently than she had and didn’t realize Manzo had felt uncomfortable at the time.
“That evening, a group of the other cast members sent a group text message to the rest of the cast, including Manzo, saying that they were planning to visit Glanville at her hotel,” Shannon claims. “Manzo expressed that she was extremely offended by this text and the fact that the other cast members wanted to check on Glanville, particularly after the conversation they had just had with Manzo. As a result, she decided to leave the production and fly home.”
“I understand that, in her Complaint, Manzo objects to the fact that production continued to film her in the days following the incident with Glanville,” Shannon claims. “To my knowledge, the only time when Manzo asked not to be filmed was immediately after she received the group text regarding other cast members’ plan to visit Glanville. At that time, she asked the production crew not to film her, and we honored that request.”
Shannon went on to claim that Manzo was paid in full despite her early departure from filming.
In her lawsuit, Manzo alleges that Glanville walked over to her on the couch, “spread Manzo’s legs and leaned into Manzo. She then laid her head on Manzo’s inner thigh.”
“Manzo says she pulled away and moved to the end of the couch. After establishing she’s a mere five feet tall and Glanville is almost a foot taller than her, Manzo claims Glanville sat next to her on the couch and “proceeded to kiss Manzo with a closed mouth.”
“Glanville then kissed Manzo again. Manzo was very uncomfortable,” the court documents claim. “Glanville then proceeded to mount Manzo on the couch holding Manzo down with her body, forcibly squeezed Manzo’s cheeks together and thrust her tongue in Manzo’s mouth, while humping her.”
Manzo claims she tried to push Glanville off, but alleges that “Glanville was restraining Manzo with her much greater weight, size and strength and was unable to free herself.”
While Manzo mentions Glanville throughout the lawsuit, Manzo does not name her as a defendant. Instead, Manzo is suing Bravo, NBCUniversal, Peacock and Shed Media, claiming the defendants “regularly ply the Real Housewives cast with alcohol and 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.”
Representatives from both Peacock and Shed Media said in a statement to ET at the time, “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.”
In January — prior to Manzo’s lawsuit filing in New York — Glanville spoke to ET about recent health complications, which she attributes to the sexual assault accusation against her by Manzo.
“I’ve had some health issues that have affected my ability to talk. My ability to taste food, my face basically would swell up, like I would have anaphylactic shock, go into anaphylactic shock constantly and I saw seven doctors and their answer to it was it was stress-induced angioedema,” she said.
Glanville was ultimately diagnosed with stress-induced angioedema, a condition where swelling occurs under the skin.
As for what went down in Morocco, Glanville would only say that the Girls Trips “are the Wild West” and that it’s challenging to “work 19-hour days and be fueled with alcohol all day.”
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