After revealing she is a lesbian and now dating a woman, The Real Housewives of Orange County cast member Braunwyn Windham-Burke says she would "be heartbroken" if her husband Sean Burke moved on with someone else.
During a fan Q&A on her Instagram Story on Saturday, Jan. 2, the married couple, who wed 20 years ago and share seven kids, surprised fans by appearing together to answer burning questions about the future of their relationship. Braunwyn reiterated that they are "finding a new normal." When asked, "Will you be ok if Sean ends up falling in love with someone else and decides to try w/them?" she wrote, "Nope, I'll be heartbroken."
"Am I going to eventually date other people? I don't know. Probably," said Sean, 47. "Don't know when, though."
Braunwyn, 43, said, "Hard to date during a pandemic!"
When asked if he is hurt by his wife having a girlfriend, he responded, "Am I hurt? Yeah! It kind of sucks. It's hard, figuring it out. But yeah, it's sucks."
One fan asked, "Do you feel it's at all hypocritical that you have a gf but don't want Sean too [sic]?"
"Yes, absolutely. That's why we're in therapy. We are working through this. We can't figure this out on our own!" Braunwyn replied, as Sean laughed. "I mean, this is a lot...this is hard and we're working it out."
Following concerned messages from fans, Sean later wrote on Twitter, "I feel the support! , but i'm just going to say you guys are taking this the wrong way. B and I have been together for 24 years. We are best friends. Of course I can date, and of course it'll hurt. There is so much, so fast, we are just figuring this out for ourselves."
In September, breakup rumors surrounding Braunwyn and Sean were sparked after she shared a Zoom seminar about co-parenting, which featured a divorce expert. Also that month, their 18-year-old daughter Rowan, their second-eldest child, wrote on Instagram, "F--k. You. Mom." Braunwyn later posted on her Instagram Story, "Our family asks for your understanding as we work through some challenging circumstances."
In October, the reality star told Entertainment Tonight that she and Sean no longer lived together and that they were "redefining what marriage means to us." She told Us Weekly, "He's still around the kids as much as he was before. It's just, he sleeps somewhere else at night."
"I don't think the little kids [have] any clue of what's going on," she told the magazine. "If anything, their dad is spending more quality time with them. The older kids, they're fine with this because Rowan wants, you know, wants a little space right now, too."
In November, Braunwyn and Sean celebrated her birthday together with the rest of their children.
In early December, Braunwyn came out as a lesbian and shared a photo of a woman she's been dating, named Kris. On her Instagram Story on Saturday, the reality star said she sees her girlfriend "about twice a week" and may appear on The Real Housewives of Orange County.
In mid-December, Braunwyn wrote on Instagram, "We know it might be impossible, but we're going to try and make this 'open' marriage work."
Braunwyn and Sean have gone through marriage turmoil before, and, in a 2019 episode of RHOC, she also revealed that the two have threesomes "every now and then."
On the series' after show that year, she said, "We fought for our family because Sean and I almost got divorced. We've been through infidelity. We've gone down this road and Sean and I came back stronger."
"I cheated on Sean," Braunwyn revealed during the special. "We separated. I took the kids. He was with someone else too. We were separated, we were in two different homes. I went to Hawaii; I took the kids, I enrolled them in school. I told Sean I was done. I just didn't want to be a single mom anymore. He traveled 25 days a month."
Braunwyn also said that she dated a man while in Hawaii but kept it "very PG." She said that she and Sean reconciled after a few months and that he proposed to her again.
Despite the drama, Braunwyn and Sean put up a show of unity during the holiday season. The two shared family photos and she also posted a pic of the two of them walking and goofing around together. She wrote, "And to all a good night! #christmaseve #2020 #bestfriends #ourway #keepitweird"