Instagram Braunwyn Windham-Burke and her husband Sean Burke
Real Housewives of Orange County star Braunwyn Windham-Burke is opening up about her marriage with her husband Sean Burke. Windham-Burke shared with fans that she identifies as a lesbian in an interview with GLAAD on December 2. Later that day, she introduced fans to her girlfriend Kris. Windham-Burke posted a selfie of the two of them with a heart and a rainbow flag on her Instagram Story.
The 43-year-old RHOC star received criticism after she said that he’s allowed to date, but she confessed she would be “heartbroken” if he fell in love with someone else, per People. Since making her comment, Windham-Burke is clarifying what she meant.
“Dating someone and falling in love and starting a new life are two very different things,” she told Us Weekly on January 13. “If Sean dated someone, that’s great. I support that. I think he should be. If Sean fell in love and started a new life, started a new family, yes that would be heartbreaking.”
She continued saying, “We’ve been together 26 years. We’ve been together since we were children. And I think that people kind of forget that it’s not just that we’re married, we’ve been together since we were kids. We are family. We are each other’s people. We are closer to each other than anyone else. Would that hurt? I’m not talking about losing the marriage, I’m talking about losing my best friend, my person that’s been with me since I was 18. So yes, I would be heartbroken. Does that say that I don’t want to be happy? Of course, I do. I think it would be weird if I wasn’t heartbroken if my husband of 26 years fell in love with someone else.”
Windham-Burke Hopes for a Successful ‘Open Marriage’
The pair have both been seeing other people, but Windham-Burke has explained they are trying to make their marriage work. “We’re working through this,” Windham-Burke said on Instagram, via People. “We can’t figure this out on our own. This is a lot. We’re a little bit crazy, but this is hard and we’re working it out…I am kind of a jealous person. Sean knows this, we talk about it in therapy. This is actually the biggest thing we’re working on in therapy.”
The two share seven kids together: Bella, 20, Rowan, 18, Jacob, 15, 7-year-old twins Caden and Curren, Koa, 5, and Hazel, 2. “I think anyone in our positions would know that things are going to have to change, but it doesn’t mean it’s not hard,” Windham-Burke told Us Weekly.
She added saying, “This is me trying to balance the feelings and emotion of two people I really care about, and I think trying to keep some things private is a big part of that.” Windham-Burke revisited that they have no plans at the moment to divorce.
“We want to have an open marriage and we want to be able to do it honestly and not have our feelings hurt I am very open with him,” she told Us Weekly. “I have big fears of abandonment from when I was a child. So my jealousy, my things, we’re working on them. We’re working on them so that we can get to a healthy place. I do think we’re going to get there. I really do, because we have the communication, we have the trust, we have a great therapist and we both have a similar goal for our future, which is sitting there in Hawaii, watching our grandkids play.”
Sean Burke Shared Details of His Dating Life
Sean Burke has since opened up about his thoughts on their arrangements and his wife’s love life. When asked if he felt hurt by Windham-Burke’s new relationship, he admitted in an Instagram story per People, “Am I hurt? Yeah, it kind of sucks because it’s hard. [We’re] figuring it out but it sucks.”
Another fan asked Burke if he had plans to start dating again anytime soon. “Am I eventually going to date other people?” he answered, per Reality Blurb. “Um, I don’t know. Probably. [I] don’t know right now.” Windham-Burke chimed in saying, “[It’s] hard to date during a pandemic.”
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