RHOC’s Braunwyn Windham-Burke celebrates one year sober after battling alcoholism on show
REAL Housewives of Orange County star Braunwyn Windham-Burke has marked one year of sobriety after publicly battling alcoholism.
The Bravo star, 43, celebrated the milestone by sipping on a glass of non-alcoholic sparkling cider in front of the ocean in Laguna Beach.
Taking to Instagram, Braunwyn snapped a picture of two glasses alongside plates of fresh fruit and macarons.
She captioned the picture: “#1YearSober #today @montagelaguna.”
Braunwyn, who is now dating girlfriend Kris, 28, after coming out last year, received praise from her followers.
One wrote: “Congrats to you gorgeous. I’m so proud of you.”
Another added: “Congratulations! What an amazing accomplishment!”
A third told Braunwyn: “You are doing an amazing thing and it’s really exciting to watch.”
In October 2020, Braunwyn – who is in an ‘open marriage’ with husband Sean – was seen sobbing in the Season 15 premiere of RHOC, as she admitted she was an “alcoholic.”
She broke down in tears, revealing she was scared she was “going to die” from drinking before she vowed to give up the habit “forever.”
Braunwyn’s confession came after her co-star Emily Simpson, 44, had an emotional sit-down chat about the mom-of-seven’s past behavior.
Braunwyn said on the show: “I was drinking so much I was scared I was gonna die. Sean basically said you’re going to rehab if you have one more drink because he didn’t know I’d been hiding alcohol.
“I’ve been refilling bottles, I’ve been doing all the things that you know that everyone does.”
The Bravo star then sobbed as she hysterically confessed she didn’t think she could “ever drink again.”
She said through tears: “That scares the s**t out of me. But yeah, it has to be forever.”
In a confessional, Braunwyn looked straight at the camera with teary eyes and stated: “I don’t know if it’s divine intervention. I don’t know.
“But for the first time in my life I can say… ‘My name is Braunwyn and I’m an alcoholic.’”
Braunwyn had already made her vow to quit drinking by the time the episode aired.
She first drank at age 14 and recently admitted she had seven kids to force herself to stay sober throughout their pregnancies.
Following her admission, Braunwyn wrote a letter for Glamour and said she was so drunk at BravoCon 2019 that a network executive “had to pry tequila out of her hands.”
Soon after, she went to Miami for a birthday party for Kelly Dodd’s fiancé, Rick Leventhal.
She admitted: “I was drinking around the clock. I was hiding alcohol bottles in my closet; I couldn’t go more than half an hour without a drink because I started shaking.
“I woke my husband up and said, ‘I can’t stop. I need you to sit on me. That’s how bad it’s gotten.’ It was ugly. I had the tremors, I was seeing spots when I closed my eyes. It was a nightmare.”
Two months after she admitted her alcoholism on RHOC, Braunwyn came out as gay.
This week, she revealed Sean “had another woman in her bed” while she was on a trip with girlfriend Shari.
At the time, Braunwyn had developed an “emotional relationship” with Shari, who fans met towards the end of the season.
But after their trip, Shari asked Brauwyn to leave Sean for her, and she refused.
Speaking on the RHOC reunion show, she said: “So we flew home from this trip and I’m sitting in my bedroom and my nanny comes in crying and tells me she has to tell me something.
“So he had had someone else there while I was on my trip. She had been in my home, been in my bed, met my baby – and I didn’t take it well, because even though we had this ‘Ok, we’re gonna start doing this,’ the fact that he didn’t tell me during our conversation…”
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Sean is believed to have a new girlfriend after he was spotted having an intimate lunch with an unnamed woman in Newport Beach on December 28.
A source close to the couple told Us Weekly the husband and wife are both dating and content with their arrangement.
The insider said: “Both are allowed to date people and are happy!”