FormerSouthern CharmstarThomas Ravenelis accusing Bravo of siccing its “agents,” includingAndy Cohen, on him to “disparage” him publicly as he fights to keep his two young children off the network’s hit show.
Ravenel, 56, islocked in legal battlewith exKathryn Dennis, 26, and recently filed court documents concerning the sixth season ofSouthern Charm, which is airing now.
In last week’s episode, Dennis cried and worried she “will be a single mother” to daughter Kensie, 5, and son Saint, 3, if he goes to prison and she’s given sole custody.
Dennis lost custody of Kensie and Saint after failing a drug test and entering rehab in 2016, but she now says she is sober and hasearned back 50/50 custody.In October, shefiled documentsin Charleston seeking to obtain primary custody of the two children after Ravenel was arrested andcharged with assault and batteryin the second degree. Ravenel has denied all the allegations.
In the documents, Ravenel also accuses Bravo of “manipulating” Dennis into behaving certain ways so she can secure good storylines, claiming he has text messages to back it up.
Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU
He also points to aMay episode ofWatch What Happens Livein which he claims Dennis appeared “highly intoxicated on drugs and/or alcohol” and accused Ravenel of not leaving her alone.
“[Host Andy] Cohen, acting on behalf of Bravo, further said, ‘That’s a good line’ and ‘Everyone is rooting for you,’” the documents claim.
Later in the episode, Cohen asked Dennis if she had any advice for herself five years ago. When she couldn’t come up with an answer, costar Patricia Altschul, who Ravenel calls a “Bravo agent,” chimed in to say, “Maybe not believing what everyone is telling you.”
The documents claim that Altschul’s response implied Ravenel had lied or manipulated Dennis in the past.
“Subsequent to the premier, onWatch What Happens LivewithAndy Cohen, Bravo, through its agents, disparaged [Ravenel] on live television, Cohen publicly stated to [Dennis] that ‘everyone is rooting for you,’ [Ravenel] was implicitly called a liar, and [Dennis’s] storyline onSouthern Charmwas set as a quest for ‘getting full custody of her children,’” the documents claim.
NBCU Photo Bank/Getty (2)
The documents also state: “This footage will exist in the Internet age presumably forever. All context will be lost to time, and without this Court putting a stop to it, eventually the parties’ children will be old enough to watch and understand (or at least think they understand) what has happened between their parents.”
The Blastreports that Dennis filed an affidavit in response claiming she never disparaged Ravenel and calling his accusation that she looked intoxicated “patently false.”
She addressed her demeanor onWWHLin anInstagram poston May 18, explaining she’d been dealing with anxiety.
“I struggled to be still during#wwhl. so much is going on in my life right now and I was anxious and nervous af,” she wrote. “anxiety sucksss and It’s important to talk about. that said I gotta tell you how much your support means to me and also how big of a role that it plays when I’m having a hard time. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
A rep for Bravo did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, nor did a lawyer for Ravenel. A lawyer for Dennis declined to comment.
Southern Charmairs Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
source: people.com
