RHOC Star Braunwyn Windham-Burke: 'I’m a Lesbian'

Real Housewives of Orange County star Braunwyn Windham-Burke sat down with GLAAD's Anthony Ramos for an interview where she came out as gay, saying "I'm a lesbian" publicly for the first time.

"I'm finally comfortable enough to say: I like women. I'm gay. I'm a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. I'm a lesbian," Windham-Burke said. "And it has taken me 42 years to say that, but I'm so proud of where I am right now and I'm so happy where I am. To be able to be comfortable in my own skin after so long is just so nice."

She says that her journey to get sober this year played a big part in her coming-out. "One of the main reasons I drank is that I've always been uncomfortable in my own skin, I always felt a little bit not right, especially in social situations," Windham-Burke told Ramos. She said that during quarantine, she's had a lot of time to think about why she feels the way she does and to peel back the layers behind that.

"So as I'm sitting down there going through the layers and kind of peeling an onion, why am I so resentful [of her husband], I slowly but surely got to the core of it, which is, I'm with the wrong gender," she said. Now that she's been with women, she says she feels completely different about her attraction.

"I think when you finally figure it out, and it clicks, you're like 'this is what everyone is talking about.' I'm seeing someone right now, and after the first few times I was with her, I was like, there's not a doubt in my head, this is where I belong."

While she makes it clear that she's not attracted to men, she says that she and her husband, Sean Burke, are best friends and have no plans to divorce.

She also says her husband has met the woman she's dating, whose name is Kris. "They hang out sometimes, I mean, we go to parties together! She came over the other night, hung out with the family, had dinner with us. I mean, it's only as weird as you make it," she said.

Back in October, Windham-Burke had told Us Weekly that she was seeing someone other than her husband. "There's someone in my life right now that makes me happy and I smile just thinking about, but I kinda want to protect it right now," she told the magazine at the time.

Now she has shared that love with the world and revealed her authentic self in public.