Why It's Important This "Real Housewife" Defended a Photo of Her Husband in Heels

From Oprah Magazine

• Real Housewives of Orange County star Braunwyn Windham-Burke has defended her husband Sean after he received hate online for wearing heels.

• Windham-Burke explained that the couple was wearing heels while attending an LGBTQ+ youth fundraiser with their son, who recently started doing drag.

• "For us, we have always supported our kids and always supported the LGBTQ+ community," Windham-Burke told OprahMag.com exclusively.

The Real Housewives of Orange County newcomer Braunwyn Windham-Burke and her husband Sean, the president and founder of a company called Channelstars, are fierce advocates of their seven children, who were all featured during season 14 of the hit Bravo show.

In January, Windham-Burke shared an Instagram post announcing that her third child, Jacob, 14, has “decided to give the world of drag a try.” Soon after, she showed off photos of her son in a dress and heels on her Instagram story, writing "Fabulous !!!" over top of the image.

This week, however, Windham-Burke had no choice but to come to her family's defense after a recent photo of hers drew some negative criticism. The Housewives star shared a photo of her and her husband in which he's seen wearing a suit jacket and pants, with red high heels on his feet.

"Supporting our kid, supporting the community," she wrote as the caption, which explained they dressed up to attend Tantrums & Tiaras, a drag competition and fundraiser for the San Diego LGBT Community Center. Allyship is about showing up for a community in need, and both Windham-Burke and her husband proved just that while in attendance at the event, which she helped judge along with her Real Housewives castmate Emily Simpson.

Soon after, former RHOC star Vicki Gunvalson decided to draw attention to what she saw as bizarre behavior in a now-deleted Instagram story that read, "Does anyone else see what is on Sean's feet?" (Gunvalson has previously posted videos clarifying that she's "not homophobic" in reaction to similar events.)

Additionally, fans also took to the comments section of Windham-Burke’s post to question Sean’s “extreme” approach to showing off his love for their child. Windham-Burke eloquently zinged back in the comments, writing, “I guess I could use my platform to sell teeth whitening trays, but fundraising for The Center in San Diego, an organization that does 84,000 site visits a year, is way more my thing."

Her teeth whitening statement alluded to her Housewives co-stars across all franchises, who on Instagram often hawk products like teeth whiteners or teas that promise flat tummies.

Which leads us to Tuesday morning, when Windham-Burke decided to double down in her defense of her husband’s footwear. “So I woke up to a lot of questions from a lot of you [asking] why was my husband wearing heels,” she began in the four-part video.

"We were supporting our son, who recently started showing an interest in drag. And we were on our way to a fundraiser for the LGBT youth center in San Diego and it was Sean’s way of supporting his son and all the other kids that the youth center helps. But more importantly, it was a way to take something that so many people are uncomfortable with and try to normalize it," she said.

Windham-Burke continued: "And waking up this morning and seeing all the hate that my husband is getting for a pair of shoes sort of goes to show why this is so important. So as long as a pair of shoes can be so polarizing and divisive, it means we still have a lot of work to do. Because people aren’t understanding, people are judging, and that’s exactly what we were trying to raise awareness of with that and I guess it’s working.”

Windham-Burke's video shows her unwavering support of not only her family, but of other families who count LGBTQ+ people among them. Rather than clapback at Gunvalson (whose questioning of a man in heels feels antiquated at best; homophobic at worst) or appear to be some kind of victim, Windham-Burke kept the conversation about the issues that matter most to her: raising awareness and acceptance.

She also affirmed her commitment to the cause by stating that "we still have a lot of work to do," work that she is both doing and using her platform to effectively highlight.

Windham-Burke also opened up to OprahMag.com exclusively on Tuesday. "For us, we have always supported our kids and always supported the LGBTQ+ community. Even when the kids were little, we were in D.C. for the National Equality March all the way back in 2009," she told us.

She continued, "This is something our family has not only spoken out for but actually shown up for, so for us this is just a normal day. And I think when Sean wore the heels it was his way of saying not only do I support my son, but I'm going to say that this is okay, this is normal, there's nothing wrong with this. And the bigger picture was: If you're not our kid and you don't happen to come from a family that supports you like this, we're here for you."

This comes just days after television host Wendy Williams issued an apology after making comments on her show during a bizarre outburst in which she scolded gay men for “wearing our skirts and our heels” and declared that gay men will “never be the women that we are—no matter how gay.” The Los Angeles Times called her comments “anti-gay,” while others online called them transphobic, insinuating that her remarks were an attack on trans women as well.

As for Windham-Burke, there's a chance that we might get to see part of this play out on the upcoming season. She responded to one fan asking for more info about the event by writing "watch next season." Stay tuned, Housewives fans.

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