RHOC's Braunwyn Windham-Burke Reveals She's Gay — But Isn't Divorcing Her Hubby!
Nothing to hide! Braunwyn Windham-Burke revealed she is gay and got candid about how her husband, Sean Burke, reacted to the news.
“I’m still getting used to it … I knew I was attracted to women,” the 43-year-old told GLAAD on Wednesday, December 2. “I got married very young and I never thought about it. So, to be 42 … I’m just now starting to feel like I’m becoming the woman I was supposed to be.
“So, for me to be living completely authentically and say, ‘I’m a lesbian. That was who I have always been.’ This isn’t something that is new cause that I think is what a lot of people will think. ‘Oh, suddenly you’re one.’ No, I’ve always known it,” the Real Housewives of Orange County star added. “But it took me personally 42 years to be comfortable enough in my own skin to say that.”
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Despite not being interested in the opposite sex, the blonde beauty — who shares Bella, 20, Rowan, 18, Jacob, 15, twins Caden and Curren, both 7, Koa, 5, and Hazel, 2, with her husband of 20 years — admitted that she is not planning on getting divorced anytime soon.
Photo: Randy Shropshire/Bravo
“I love Sean. I love him dearly, he is my person, he is my family. But I’m not attracted to men and I never have been,” she said, adding that she “plans on staying married,” even though they sleep in separate bedrooms. “We’re raising the kids together. He’s my best friend.”
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Braunwyn has a new lady in her life — a woman named Kris — and Sean even hangs out with the two of them from time to time. “I mean, we go to parties together! She came over the other night, hung out with the family, had dinner with us,” she said. “I mean, it’s only as weird as you make it.”
The mom of seven admitted that once she got clean, she was able to live her best life and be her true self. “This year, I got sober, which I know there is a correlation between the two,” she said. “I know that when you get sober and you start doing the work that goes into that, you start realizing a lot of the reasons you drank had to do with who you were on the inside…This sort of became something that I didn’t want to hide anymore, and I didn’t want to keep a secret anymore.
“I wanna be able to go out to dinner with whoever I want without judgment. You know, as long as my husband was OK and the person I was dating was OK and knows everything. I didn’t wanna have to hide this anymore,” she explained.
The pair — who got married in 2000 — briefly separated after they welcomed their eldest child but eventually got back together and had four more children together.
The Bravo personality was always candid about her open marriage to Sean. Earlier this year, she revealed she doesn’t live with Sean and that she was in a new relationship, despite still being married.
In October, one fan called Sean “gay” in the comments section on Instagram, but the California native replied, “No sweetie, that’s me. He’s straight.”
