After two seasons on Real Housewives of Orange County, Braunwyn Windham-Burke was fired. During her final season, the star came out as gay and opened up about her battle with sobriety.
In the past, Braunwyn called out castmates for not supporting her sexuality. Many of them, in fact, made flippant comments that offended LGBTQ+ viewers.
In an interview for the Behind The Velvet Rope With David Yontef podcast, Braunwyn revealed she was mad at the network for their narrative of her.
“What is wrong with you people?” she said. “You equated two women having sex to eating raw fish. Not cool. Not cool. You said I was faking alcoholism.”
“[They claim,] ‘Oh, we’re gay. We’re a gay-friendly network.’ No, you are not. I might get in trouble for this,” said Braunwyn. “[But] my coming out story was big and messy and it didn’t fit with the narrative that they wanted to push.”
Braunwyn then brought up Julia Lemigova (from Real Housewives of Miami), and how they presented her as the “first-ever lesbian Housewife.”
“Let’s be honest. I’m not the first LGBTQ,” said Braunwyn. “There have been other queer Housewives. You know, Ashley Darby, Barb [Kavovit] wasn’t a housewife, but you know, she’s bi. Kim Zolciak dated a woman. Kandi [Burruss] has said that she has.”
Julia’s LGBTQ+ storyline was more “palpable,” in Braunwyn’s opinion, because Julia and her wife Martina Navratilova are a “famous couple [with] two kids.”
“You also need to give sort of some space for some coming out stories [that] aren’t easy… And it’s not going to be, you know, the Dubrows. I love that they accepted their children so amazingly, but that’s not always the case. Not every kid has [a good] experience. Coming out can be hard. And mine was hard. It wasn’t all love and rainbows.”
She also believes Andy Cohen made a suggestion that Braunwyn was fired over not being “mentally stable.”
“I was like, ‘Huh? That’s weird. Cause none of you talked to me. So how the hell would you know?’ Cause no one told me. No one talked to me, no one checked in.”
She added, “I’m probably one of the most stable Housewives there is right now… Do I have issues? Absolutely. You know, I have past trauma. I have stuff. I work on them, but let’s be honest. I’ve seen many Housewives spiral and their cameras are right there, front and center. They don’t care about our mental health. That’s bullsh*t. Don’t even pretend to care about our mental health. You don’t, as long as we’re not a liability and we’re bringing in money.”
“I think it was more, I was very polarizing during Black Lives Matter… I can’t keep my mouth shut about social justice. I mean, I remember when Shannon’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t do politics.’ I’m like, ‘It’s not f**king politics. It’s human lives.’”
When Braunwyn supported BLM, castmates came after her “with a bullseye,” she said.
“I have text messages from them, racist text messages from them that I never put out there, but this is how I met Noella [Bergener]… I was coming to a protest in Orange County, in Newport Beach. And I had a group text with everyone from the cast. And someone had sent a photo of Corona Del Mar all boarded up. That’s where we live in Newport beach. And I was like, ‘oh, we were there… We should all go together.’ Cause I thought, how great would that be to all the Housewives to show up in solidarity? You know, for Black Lives Matter.”
The star continued, “Keep in mind, this is Corona Del Mar. It was like a parade. It’s the safest place in the world… [But I received] racist memes, ‘You’re a bad mom. You’re a terrorist…’ This is what the group chat [with] the other women I’m filming with is becoming. I’m like, ‘Whoa. I cannot film with these people.’ I said, ‘I cannot film with these f**king women.’ This is probably the reason I was fired.”
“They are racist,” said Braunwyn, speaking of the castmates.
Had Braunwyn ever wondered if she would still have a job if she stayed in the closet and never revealed the alcoholism?
“Oh, I knew. I remember Kary Brittingham when I was going through all this. She’s like, ‘girl, stop talking. You’re going to get fired. It’s too much, too much.’ No, I knew… but I also can’t live my life any other way.”
Braunwyn also addressed Heather Dubrow, who accused Noella of giving pornography to Heather’s daughter. Later on, it was revealed that the “pornography” was an LGBTQ+ card game with sexual content.
“Let’s be honest… Heather’s good at putting other people down to make herself look better… that card game, I couldn’t help but laugh. Cause I got my kids the same one for Christmas. I mean, my kids were in their twenties, but like that wasn’t porn. If that’s what, if you think that’s porn… I’m so sorry for your sex life.”
Would Braunwyn ever return to the show?
“I wouldn’t go back. It really wasn’t for me,” she answered. “I would do something like Ultimate Girls Trip. Quick in and out. I am an empath. I feel things. I’m not like Tamra [Judge] who just turns it off. It really does affect me. You know, I get emotionally involved… I can’t do the dirty anymore… It’s hard to be sober and work a program and be a Housewife. They don’t go together.”
