Taking some time for themselves. Braunwyn Windham-Burke and her husband, Sean Burke, have decided to take time apart to get some space.
The former Real Housewives of Orange County star and her husband shared the news during an Instagram Live session, and detailed how they came to the decision to separate after 26 years of marriage.
“We are packing up this house, the one we filmed in last year, and we are moving,” Braunwyn explained in the joint video. “We have decided jointly that we are going to take a few months apart.”
The pair explained that they would continue to co-parent their seven children, even as they moved away, with Braunwyn planning on living in Hawaii and Sean living in Newport Beach, California.
“He is moving into a furnished rental for a few months and I am taking the kids to Hawaii for a while,” Braunwyn said of the couple’s children — Bella, 20, Rowan, 18, Jacob, 15, twins Curran and Caden, 8, Koa, 6, and Hazel, 3.
Sean added, “We’re going to see what that’s like, living apart for a little while.”
Braunwyn came out publicly as lesbian in December, and explained that she and Sean would remain married, but in an open relationship. Earlier this year, Braunwyn struck up a relationship with Fernanda Rocha — who had appeared on RHOC in the past.
The reality star shared some insight into her and Sean’s plans for the future, and explained they were thinking about getting one house for the kids that each parent could take turns living in.
“What we would like to do is when this is over, is to get a house that the kids stay in and then we might go [back and forth],” she shared. “We haven’t decided if, after this little experiment of having a few months apart, if we are gonna come back together and live together as friends and family, or if we’re going to just keep the kids in the house and we’ll come in and out.”
“We need a break,” she added. “We need some space right now…
Braunwyn emphasized that there is no animosity between herself and her husband, explaining they the decision was a mutual choice, and adding, “We love each other. We are family, we are friends.”
ET spoke with Braunwyn in June — when her unexpected exit from RHOC was revealed — and the reality star opened up about her marriage and how things had changed.
“I know people ask me this a lot, are we intimate? No,” she shares. “We are friends. We are best friends. So it’s actually not that weird, at least to us.”
She did say, however, that the pair were planning on taking some time apart in the near future, although they have no definite plans for divorce.
“Do I think Sean and I need some space? Absolutely. Do I think that we need to rush to get divorced? Absolutely not,” Braunwyn shared, while admitted that she and Sean both realize that divorce is essentially inevitable for them.
“I want to wake up and have coffee with someone, and I want that, and he deserves that, too,” she says. “He wants that, too. So although we’re not in a rush right now, we both want to have that person, and that love, and that intimacy. I would love… when I close my eyes and manifest what I truly want, I’m waking up every morning with a woman who’s my wife.”
