HGTV’s David Bromstad Breaks Silence

Heavy/Getty HGTV's David Bromstad

Popular HGTV host David Bromstad is known for his loud fashions and bubbly personality on his hit show, “My Lottery Dream Home,” but he’s been silent on social media for months. On March 17, 2023, he posted for the first time this year on Instagram and Facebook, acknowledging he’d been gone for too long.

Captioning a video of behind-the-scenes bloopers from his popular series, 49-year-old Bromstad declared, “I’m back!!!!!!”

“I know I know,” he continued. “It’s been way to long!”

Known for his colorful wardrobe and “wacky wit,” as he wrote in his post, the heavily tattooed designer and host is openly gay but rarely shares details about his personal life on social media or in interviews, and he pulled back on his social media over the last year.

Bromstad only shared a dozen social media posts in all of 2022, which was far less than years prior and very different from most of his HGTV colleagues, who typically share details of their projects and frequent glimpses into their daily lives. For Bromstad, the only post unrelated to his show was a December video of his sister’s Christmas decorations at her home in Minnesota, where they grew up. With his recent return, many fans are making it known they hope he’ll return to posting more frequently.

Fans Celebrate David Bromstad’s Return to Social Media

Bromstad first gained notoriety by winning the first season of HGTV’s “Design Star” in 2006 and later returning to host the series, as well as his own show, “Color Splash.” When HGTV pitched him a show about helping lottery winners find their dream homes in 2015, he jumped at the chance to be part of such a “feel-good show,” he told Celebrity Page in 2021, but never imagined it would make him even more famous.

“Honestly, none of us thought it was gonna last,” he said. “It was just a concept and then all of a sudden it just started taking off and I was like, ‘This is so weird! I can’t literally leave my house without someone recognizing me.'”

Despite not posting frequently, Bromstad has over a million followers across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And there are multiple Facebook fan groups devoted to him, with over 50,000 members in each. So when he returned to social media after a nearly three-month absence, hundreds of fans told him how relieved and excited they were to see him.

One fan commented, “David!!! You are my favorite to watch, always a wonderful and relatable, fun, loving personality, and handsome!!! Glad you’re back😍”

Another wrote, “Excellent!!! Been way toooo long…missed your ray of sunshine…Fla fave!!”

Many people asked where he’d been, including one who wrote, “Where have you been hiding? It’s been way too long!”

David Bromstad Has Been Busy With Home Renovations and Travel

GettyDavid Bromstad and fellow HGTV personality Jonathan Knight in 2019

Following a messy, public breakup with longtime partner Jeffrey Glasko in 2015, according to In Touch Weekly, Bromstad has not shared details about his relationship status. But he stays busy traveling for work and fun, and enjoying the dream home he purchased near Orlando, Florida, as seen during a 2021 special episode of his HGTV series.

In July 2022, the former Disney animator told Passport Magazine that he’s “not ever leaving Orlando” and that he was busy renovating and decorating his five-bedroom Tudor, with plans to reveal the finished product on a future HGTV show. Bromstad said he’d hired an assistant designer to help him, which he admitted was not an easy job.

“I’m hard to work for,” he said. “Everything has to be perfect.”

Bromstad also spends a good deal of time on the road. In addition to all the U.S towns he visits for his show, he also loves to travel the world for fun. He goes to Europe every year, revealing to Passport that his favorite destinations are Mykonos, Amsterdam, and Barcelona.

He added, “Oh, and I love gay cruises!”

In January, a group of female hairdressers in Somerset, Kentucky, noticed the HGTV star walking down the street where their salon is located, with TV cameras following him. They ran out to meet him and get a photo, shocked that he was in their town, they told the Commonwealth Journal.

“He was just like what he is on the show,” fan Sara Cox said. “He did talk to us, and he was very kind. He was working and looked like he had a lot going on, and I guess we kind of interrupted that. But he was very kind to us.”

What Bromstad won’t be found doing is watching the news or debating politics, he told the Minnesota Star Tribune in 2019.

He said, “If my friends get into a political conversation, I say, ‘Good for you. Good stress on you.’ None of it’s related to me. I am Disney. I am magic. That’s all my life is about.”

“My Lottery Dream Home” airs on Friday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern time and, according to ratings data, continues to consistently be one of the network’s top-rated shows.