Fight Spills Online After Leah Blows Up at Heather on RHONY Over Election

Leah McSweeney unleashed some serious fury on returning "Real Housewives of New York" star Heather Thomson on Tuesday's hour -- but the fight clearly didn't end when cameras cut.

Heather joined the women for a trip to the Hamptons that would have reportedly brought her back into the fold for the rest of the season, but once things went awry with Leah, she decided against rejoining the cast. Coming into the trip, Leah already felt a certain type of way about Heather, because of some nasty comments Thomson made about her former costars on her podcast.

The friction between them continued throughout the trip, coming to a head when the women all started to talk about the then-upcoming election. As Heather asked the group whether they would vote early, Leah said she had become "so disgusted by politics" she didn't "even want to partake" in the election.

Leah said "if" she were to vote, it would be for Joe Biden -- "not because I like him" but because she wanted "s--- to go back to f---ing normal." She also she felt like both sides were "in a cult" and she was "just over it." While she clarified in a confessional that she "of course" was going to vote, she never really made that clear with the group.

At the end of the hour, after the women got all dolled up for a '70s beauty pageant-themed party, Eboni K. Williams had her own conversation with Leah in which she revealed she and Heather spoke to each other earlier and both expressed frustration with McSweeney's hesitation about voting.

"I think she was extremely bothered that you said you weren't sure if you were voting in this elections," said Eboni, before sharing her own stance on the issue. "It pains me though because the stakes are so high for me and my existence in this country around everything. Around Covid relief, around police brutality. She was saying you had a responsibility to vote and she was really bothered by that."

While Eboni was saying she agreed with Heather, Leah only focused on the fact Thompson was criticizing her and went off. She confronted Heather, shouting at her: "Why are you talking about me and what I said, are you f---ing kidding me? Do not talk about me and whether I'm gonna vote or not, it's none of your business. You are white feminism 101, you are the f---ing problem. You think you're the authority on everything. Do not talk about me, do not talk about anything I say. It's not your f---ing business, why do you have to be in everyone's business like a Karen?! Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Not really," was Heather's simple reply. "F--- off. Literally, f--- off," Leah continued, "Don't talk to my friend about me and my personal choices."

"You don't have to be a part of every single conversation," she went on. "Don't speak about my personal political opinions. You are the problem, Karens like you!"

Despite the outburst, the women still soldiered on with their plans to go to the party. As they boarded their van, however, Leah and Heather got into it again -- as they traded "bitch"-laden barbs at each other before McSweeney stormed out of the vehicle.

The episode ended with Leah shouting, "I don't want to talk to her, I don't want to see her, she's a psycho."

Just before the episode aired, Leah took to her Instagram Story to share a lengthy statement about her issues with Heather.

"I am seeing a narrative emerge that I'm not comfortable with and thus feel the need to speak out," Leah began. "Heather was unable to forge natural connections with any of the women and that is why she discontinued filming. Everything that she's been saying about me in the press these last few weeks bears no resemblance to reality."

"It's no secret that I was having a hard time on this trip due to a tremendous personal loss that I was dealing with in real time," Leah continued, referring to her grandmother's declining health during the trip. "Heather was well aware of this and acknowledged it. I apologized to everyone for being aggressive and squashed it, including with Heather."

"To now have her out in the press spinning lies about me while openly attacking my mental health and sobriety journey and falsely accusing me of assault is wrong, dangerous, inappropriate and a sad attempt to save face simply because she couldn't hang/cut it on the show," Leah went on, referring to Heather's claims she was "assaulted" during filming. "You will see all of this play out in the coming episodes/see for yourself."

"The entire reason I took issue with her in the first place has now happened to me/come full circle," McSweeney concluded. "She defames women to lift herself up. I won't allow myself to be dragged down in this dumb bulls--- because she can't be honest about why she really stopped filming."

Appearing on "Access Hollywood" on Wednesday, Heather said she had no regrets when it came to her confrontation with Leah.

"I have zero opinions other than a negative one about the woman. She should have went home to her grandmother," said Thomson, before explaining why it simply "wasn't right" for her to return full-time this season.

"It sounded like a good idea, the reality of it with all the things that were going on and the personalities I was dealing with," she said. "It's a whole amalgamation of how do I want to spend my time and my cellular makeup is affected by that kind of toxicity. It's not healthy. I got two teenagers at home, they have opinions, they watch the show now. There were certain lines I wasn't proud to be a part of. I think individualism is important and everyone should be themselves, I even say to Leah on the show you do you, but there were certain lines I wouldn't ... In real life, I wouldn't hang out with her."

When asked about Leah's latest Instagram post -- which she said she hadn't seen but had read to her by the cohosts -- she claimed McSweeney had yet to apologize to her, despite saying she had.

"If Leah really wants to show that she is a big strong proud woman, she should say, 'I f---ed up. I should not have done that, I launched on her and' -- she says on Instagram -- she said that she apologized to me. She never apologized to me, never once," said Heather. "I never saw Leah McSweeney or had any contact with her since the moment she left the house."

"All of that is ridiculous. I decided not to film again because I had not signed my contract. I was not going to move forward with the show," she added. "So I honestly think she thought she could just punch bag me all season, that I was under contract and I was sucked in like the rest of them, but I wasn't. They wanted a sixth player for the show ... all she did was self produce and undermine the network."

"Real Housewives of New York" airs Tuesdays on Bravo.