Are Braunwyn Windham-Burke and Sean Burke re-defining their marriage again?
The Real Housewives of Orange County star has been open in sharing her marital struggles in recent months. What started as a simple announcement that she and Sean were re-defining their marriage, turned into so much more.
At one point the RHOC husband had moved out of the family home, and not long after he moved back in, Braunwyn revealed that she’s a lesbian.
Since this biggest revelation came to light, the couple has been working on how they’d like to move forward, which includes therapy.
It seems that one of the couple’s largest hurdles is Braunwyn’s jealousy and apparent double standard when it comes to their love life.
Braunwyn claims she’ll be ‘heartbroken’ if Sean moves on with someone new
When Braunwyn came out as a lesbian, it was also revealed that she was already in a relationship with a woman named Kris. And although she had started this new relationship, Braunwyn confirmed that she and Sean had no intentions of getting a divorce.
During a recent fan Q&A on Instagram, Braunwyn got into the intimate details of where she and Sean are currently at, and part of that included questions about what will happen when Sean inevitably begins dating someone new.
One follower asked, “Will you be ok if Sean ends up falling in love with someone else and decides to try [with] them?”
Braunwyn responded, “Nope, I’ll be heartbroken.”
Given that she’s already in a new relationship, it’s hard to imagine why the mom-of-seven would expect that Sean never moves on with someone new.
Also during the Q&A, Braunwyn brought Sean into the conversation and the two of them laid on a bed together to answer other follower questions.
Another fan followed up by asking, “Do you feel it’s at all hypocritical that you have a [girlfriend] but don’t want Sean [to]?
“Yes, absolutely,” she responded. “That’s why we’re in therapy. We are working through this. We can’t figure this out on our own. I mean this is a lot.”
Braunwyn admits that she’s a ‘jealous person’ and Sean admits that Braunwyn having a girlfriend hurts him
The married couple answered more questions together as they open up about where they’re at in their marriage amid all the recent changes.
When a follower asks if Sean is going to eventually date other people, Braunwyn turned to him for the answer.
“I don’t know, probably,” he says. “Don’t know when though.”
He also responded to a question that asked if he was hurt that Braunwyn had a girlfriend.
“Yeah, it kinda sucks. Cuz it’s hard. [We’re] figuring it out but yeah, it sucks,” he responded honestly.
For as hurt as Sean is that Braunwyn is seeing someone new, she’s also dealing with her own struggles. After all, the couple has been together for over 20 years.
“Do u think u will/do struggle with jealousy when it comes to Sean and other women?” asked a follower.
“Yes, absolutely. I am kind of a jealous person. Like I said earlier, Sean knows this. We talk about it. We talk about it in therapy. And this is actually the biggest thing we’re working on in therapy. So, yeah. And it’s not a good quality I have and I know that and I’m working on it,” she admitted.
Braunwyn also confessed that she’s received plenty of messages telling her that she’s being selfish in this whole situation.
A follower commented, “Youre being very selfish in this whole situation. If you want to be [with] someone else, let [Sean go].”
“I get this a lot,” Braunwyn responded. “And I don’t own Sean. You know, I’ve been like, ‘Go. Do whatever you want.’ Sean wants to be here. He wants to be with the kids. We are a family. So, this isn’t anything that I’m doing. It’s just where we’re at right now. And that’s okay too, you know?”
Regardless of what Braunwyn has told Sean to go do, it seems unfair to expect he stay with her because she’s unable to let go of her jealousy.
Hopefully, therapy will help them and Braunwyn will be able to handle Sean moving on when he’s ready to do so.
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.