Former Real Housewives of Orange County cast member Braunwyn Windham-Burke is opening up about her coming out journey, and really emphasizing that her cast members made her transition rougher than it needed to be.
Braunwyn Windham-Burke Is The First Openly Gay Housewife
The 44-year-old came out during her time on the popular reality show but shares that she “experience homophobia” from her cast members. In an exclusive interview with PageSix Windham-Burke states, her cast members made comments about her sexuality.
“Making off-color jokes about me being intimate with a woman, that’s not OK. Those are microaggressions,” notes the former housewife.
Windham-Burke came out in December 2020 close to the end of her second season on the show. “After I came out, having to prove that I was gay, that should never have been tolerated. That is a microaggression. That is homophobia.”
Braunwyn Also Has LGBT2Q+ Identifying Childen
The mom of many wanted to share her story with viewers because her daughter Rowan who was being interviewed with her mom is also part of the community identifying as pansexual. Braunwyn wants to be an example for her daughter. Unfortunately, cast members like Kelly Dodd made it a horrible experience.
Dodd memorably mocked the newbie after rumors went around that she was seen cozying up with a woman. This took place while Windham-Burke was coming to terms with this new revelation. “It’s really invalidating that people were saying they didn’t believe it or they didn’t think it was true.”
Rowan pointed out that many people who come out later in life are questioned. “Not just for my mom, but for other people who come out later in life. It’s insanely invalidating to hear people say, ‘Oh, she’s just lying. Oh, it’s not true.’”
Braunwyn’s Son Is Also Part Of LGBTQ+ Community
In addition to Rowan identifying as pansexual, the former housewife also shared her son, Jacob’s coming-out story during her second season. Jacob experimented with drag and the proud mom brought him to a show and even pulled a few strings for Jacob to get all glammed up and explore more!
Jacob shared with People magazine that his classmates were very supportive. “I’ve gone to school in heels and women’s clothing just for fun on random days,” he told the publication. “I’m really lucky.”
“I go to a really progressive liberal arts school, so everyone there is just super, super accepting and very nice. It is just the absolute most artistic, chaotic energy. It’s beautiful.” Which is more that we can say for Windam-Burke’s castmates apparently.
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“Filming takes a lot of time but the emotional stress that my cast members put me through, there was a lot of lies made up about me. Most of them I haven’t even addressed,” she states.
Other ‘RHOC’ Housewives Shared Their Opinions
Emily Simpson also had her doubts regarding Windham-Burke’s sexuality. She even went as far as to call her “selfish” and accusing the mom of six of not thinking of her children when deciding to expose herself like that.
The women already had it out of for Windham-Burke because of the “odd” relationship she had with husband Sean Burke. She also drank heavily and bragged about a sex pad she and her husband had some “wild” times in with one another… and others.
“One one hundredth of what we film makes it onto the show. So you can choose what you want … It was not easy to be the first gay ‘Housewife.’ There should have been a little more grace,” points of the former housewife.
Is Braunwyn Having The Last Laugh?
The former reality says she is proud to carry the title of “first openly gay housewife”. She has moved on to use that for good in the LGBTQ+ community. Noting that neither she nor Rowan (or anyone else in her family) will return to the “toxic” environment of the housewives and Bravo.
That doesn’t mean they are done with reality TV though. They are interested in doing a show that features their unique family dynamic. Windham-Burke is in a relationship with girlfriend Victoria Brito and splits her time between New York and Orange County.
“There have been some opportunities presented to us, one in particular, and I did ask the kids, ‘How would you feel about this?’” revealed Windham-Burke. She also notes that she is working on a memoir.
No doubt the memoir will focus on her time as a housewife, her coming out and what her life is like now (all things we can most likely see on her social media). “It’s all in the book I’m writing.”
