Luann de Lesseps Denies Getting Kicked Out Of A Gay Bar For Being A Drunk Mess
Real Housewives of New York cast member/legendary recording artist Luann De Lesseps has had a long, public battle with alcohol. Sometimes she’s sober, sometimes she’s not. On the last season of RHONY Lu’s switch was in the “sober” position, but apparently, that didn’t last. Yesterday, Page Six reported that on Wednesday night, the ex-Countess got kicked out of a gay piano bar for being a drunken fool. Lu’s crimes include drunkenly bogarting the piano, “belting out jumbled versions of her own songs,” and snarling “Fuck you” to the crowd when they booed her.
Page Six’s source explained that LuAnn “monopolized the piano” and piano player at The Townhouse, but “that isn’t how it works; you sing one song and move on.” They add:
“Luann thought she was doing her act. She tried to sing [her own song] ‘Money Can’t Buy You Class,’ but they didn’t know it. They know standards.”
“The piano player was like, ‘I don’t know the song,’ and she responded, ‘It’s a hit!’” (The critically trashed song apparently sold 19,000 digital copies.)
Of her 2010 auto-tuned debut single that includes lines like “Elegance is learned,” the snarky source sniffs, “It’s not a Cole Porter standard, it’s not ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’”
Wasted Luann continued to belt out “jumbled versions of her songs,” and the crowd didn’t appreciate this gift from the universe and began booing her. That’s when Lu got aggressive:
Luann began “yelling at the gays, ‘You don’t know me! I’m a cabaret star!,’” adds one source.
Video taken by a patron, seen by Page Six, shows de Lesseps — in a considerably crude, un-countess-like move — snarling at the crowd, “F–k you” while on the mic singing.
The tipster tells us that de Lesseps “yelled at the other patrons on the microphone” and then was “thrown out for getting aggressive with the bar’s customers.”
Luann shared her side of the story with Page Six, claiming she wasn’t kicked out. She says she was rehearsing all day Wednesday for her upcoming cabaret show (get that plug in there, girl), then did dinner and champagne with some “Broadway producers.” She said they were in a “celebratory mood.” After many champagnes, Lu and Kinky Boots producer Jim Kierstead went to the piano bar together, and he suggested that she sing a few songs:
“I got up and sang a few Broadway songs they were playing,” she says. “I realize I was a little bit tipsy, but we were having fun, and it was getting late. I’d been rehearsing, and I was in the mood to sing a few songs. Then Jim said to me, ‘Lu, I have an early rehearsal,’ and then we left around midnight, 11:30 p.m.”
According to Kierstead, “After a birthday party for a NY theatre personality, Luann and I went to the Townhouse for a nightcap. She was met by legions of her fans and was convinced to sing for them.
“I was finally able to bring her home as I had an early morning Thursday for the workshop of a new musical. Of course she was the belle of the ball as usual.”
LEGIONS OF FANS. BELLE OF THE BALL. Damn, this Jim character is a bigger enabler than Andy Cohen! A source close to Luann tells People the obvious: she’s not sober anymore, but she’s going to work on it:
“Luann works very hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” a source tells PEOPLE. “But she made a mistake and fell off the wagon.”
The source notes that de Lesseps is “using this experience as a valuable lesson” going forward. “She will be taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” the source adds.
Back in December 2017, Luann made headlines when she got wasted in Palm Beach, barged into the wrong hotel room, and threatened and attacked the cops who showed up to arrest her. As soon as she was released from custody she went to an alcohol treatment program and got sober. Lu was originally charged with a third-degree felony for resisting an officer with violence, but after she pled guilty to battery, disorderly intoxication, and trespassing, the felony was dropped. She served no jail time. LuAnn proceeded to fall off the wagon in summer 2018. She went to rehab again for three weeks but left two weeks early to do her cabaret show. Despite a few hiccups, LuAnn completed her probation-mandated sobriety in August 2019, and soon she made the decision to start drinking again. Last year she announced she had sworn off alcohol again. And now it looks like she’s back on the sauce.
I think Luann’s biggest faux pas on Wednesday was relapsing off camera. If a Real Housewife does something stupid and Bravo cameras aren’t around to film it… did it even happen?
Pic: JOHN EDDY/INSTARimages.com