Getty Emily Simpson in 2019
In a new interview, Real Housewives of Orange County star Emily Simpson revealed more about her battle with COVID-19 this past summer.
Simpson, along with her husband, Shane, and children, all tested positive for the virus in July. “I just want to say, I do not know how I was exposed, but I do want to make it clear that I followed guidelines,” Simpson told Bravo’s The Daily Dish recently. “I guess it comes down to, even if you follow all the rules and do everything correctly, you can still get it.”
Simpson continued, “I know that there’ll probably be a lot of people that are very interested into a bird’s-eye view into someone who their entire family had COVID and how we dealt with it and how difficult it was.”
Simpson and her family’s COVID-19 battle will be featured on the December 16 episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County.
Emily Simpson’s Husband Had to Be Hospitalized
While Simpson only experienced mild symptoms while having the virus, her husband, Shane Simpson, actually ended up having to be hospitalized. Simpson explained to Bravo’s The Daily Dish that her husband had trouble breathing, and was even vomiting blood. “I dropped him off [at the ER], and I didn’t know what to do,” Simpson told Bravo’s The Daily Dish. “I sat in the parking lot in my car for hours. It was such a weird time.”
While in the hospital, Simpson’s husband was given supplemental oxygen. “I feel like there was a couple times I was on the brink of a nervous breakdown,” Simpson said. “It was more than one person could handle. I remember calling Gina [Kirschenheiter] a couple times bawling.”
Thankfully, Simpson’s husband has since made a full recovery from the illness.
Emily Simpson Said That the Illness Helped to ‘Refocus’ Their Relationship
Even though Shane Simpson’s time in the hospital was difficult for the couple to deal with, it seems like it made them stronger in the end. “We get along so well,” Simpson said of her husband to Bravo’s The Daily Dish. “We really appreciate each other. I think that’s the thing I learned with that [is that] life is so short. You never know [and] something can happen at any moment and take someone away. And, so, instead of wasting energy fighting about stupid stuff or being mad at each other, we really and completely refocused and we’re really appreciative of each other — and it’s a great space to be in.”
During an October interview with Entertainment Tonight, Simpson also spoke about how quarantine made their marriage stronger. “During that quarantine, I really focused on Shane and our relationship and my kids and our family,” Simpson told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “I came out of it just knowing that my priority was my husband, my marriage and my children and then everything else just trickles down from that. And so that’s where I’m at in my life.”
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