'RHONY' 's Eboni K. Williams Hints at Rift with Costar Leah McSweeney: We're 'Friendly Colleagues'

Eboni K. Williams and Leah McSweeney are the two newest and youngest members of the RHONY cast

Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty; Eugene Gologursky/Getty

Eboni K. Williams' current relationship with Leah McSweeney appears to be strictly business.

The Real Housewives of New York City star, 38, did an Instagram Live with S'More Date on Thursday evening and played a game of "Sip and Tell" with the host, during which a question about costar McSweeney, 39, came up.

When asked, "Are you and Leah still friends? If you're friends, take a sip," Williams declined to take a sip.

"Oh, you're messy. You are real messy," she said. "Leah and I are what we've always been. Friendly colleagues."

"So you're not friends?" the host probed, though Williams ended the topic of conversation there. "Goodnight," Williams said, pretending to log off the Instagram Live conversation.

Williams, RHONY's first Black star, joined the cast of the Bravo series for season 13, which concluded in August.

McSweeney had joined only the year prior, making them both relative newcomers as well as the two youngest Housewives on the show. Luann de Lesseps, 56, Ramona Singer, 64, and Sonja Morgan, 57, rounded out the season 13 group.

Before the season aired, Williams said she and McSweeney had developed a close relationship after having spent some time getting to know each other.

"I call Leah Black-adjacent — she's adjacent to the culture," she said during an interview with SiriusXM's Bevy Smith on Bevelations last year. "And sometimes with our adjacent friends, they mean well, but they come on a little strong ... Leah does not do too much and I so love that about her."

"Leah is exactly who she is, she's unapologetic about who she is. She acknowledges how the culture — our culture — has influenced her career and her aesthetic and her lens and she pays homage," Williams added at the time. "She's not trying to be a Black girl and I really, really love that about Leah."

The Real Housewives of New York City Season 13 cast. Sophy Holland/Bravo

McSweeney has also praised Williams in the past, saying on the season premiere in May, "Eboni is pretty much the epitome of Black-girl magic. She is a lawyer, she's an AKA, she's a broadcaster, she took on the President — and she does this all while looking hot as f--- in Louboutins."

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Throughout her debut season, Williams frequently clashed with Singer and de Lesseps, often over conversations about race.

The RHONY reunion, which typically airs after the season finale, was pushed back and later canceled — partly due to an internal investigation that was launched after complaints of racism were filed among the cast, a source previously told PEOPLE.

"There was a complaint made between Eboni K. Williams and Ramona Singer," the source said last month. "Cast and members of the production were interviewed, but the investigation was closed after nothing substantial was found."