After fifteen years and over one hundred Real Housewives, the city that started it all has given the franchise their first out lesbian Housewife. Real Housewives of Orange County Braunwyn Windham-Burke has come out as a lesbian, proclaiming proudly “it feels so good to be living my truth”
“I like women. I’m gay,” Braunwyn said in an interview with GLAAD (via People). “I’m a member of the LGBTQ+ community. It has taken me 42 years to say that but I am so proud of where I am right now. I’m so happy where I am. To be able to be comfortable in my own skin after so long is just so nice.” “I’m just now starting to feel like I’m becoming the woman I’m supposed to be,” she added. “I’ve always known it, but it took me, personally, 42 years to be comfortable in my own skin to say that.”
Ironically, it was a scene with a fellow Real Housewife and a conversation with a producer that sparked the beginning of Braunwyn’s journey. “I had a scene with Tamra that everyone kind of talked about,” she said. “When we were getting ready for the reunion I was talking to a producer that I trust a lot, his name was James, and he said, ‘How do you feel about this? Was it a drunken mistake or is this a part of who you are?’ And I said, ‘This is who I am.'”
Keen eyed viewers know that Braunwyn’s journey to sobriety has been a major story arc this season, and she sees a definite correlation between her decision to live a sober life and her coming out process beginning. It was during that time that Burke met a woman that she started to have feelings for. “I met someone that I was interested in pursuing a relationship with,” she said. “It became something that I didn’t want to hide anymore and I didn’t want to keep secret anymore.”
Braunwyn & her husband Sean have always been known to be the definition of a “modern family”, and Braunwyn’s announcement seems to have only strengthened their familial bond (the couple share seven children Hazel, 2, Koa, 4, twins Caden & Curran, 7, Jacob, 15, Rowan, 18, and Bella, 20).While they had been living under separate roofs earlier this year, they are now cohabitating together once again. Braunwyn told GLAAD that her older children have spent time with Braunwyn’s girlfriend Kris, while her younger children simply know that Kris is “Mommy’s friend”.
As for her relationship with Sean, Braunwyn says that she has had “many” conversations with Sean about her sexuality. Sean remains very supportive and they have no plans on divorcing. “We are in unchartered territories,” she said. “Sean and I are still married, I plan on staying married. We are not sleeping in the same bedroom right now, but we are in the same house. We are raising our kids together, he’s my best friend. He knows the girl I’m dating.”
‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’ airs Wednesday night on Bravo (check local listings)
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