Ever since Bronwyn Newport received her coveted The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City snowflake in season 5, she’s let fans in on the highs and lows of her life with unbridled honesty.
“We lost my dad right after filming wrapped. So an important thing for people to know is that we were in the process of losing my dad [during season 6],” Bronwyn, 40, exclusively reveals in Us Weekly’s Reality Stars of the Year issue, referring to her father’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. “It’s the hardest, slowest, most miserable way to lose someone. You feel like you lose them really slowly in little pieces.”
Bronwyn shared her father’s diagnosis in the RHOSLC season 6 premiere, which aired earlier this fall, also revealing that her mother, Marge, had moved in with her family after recovering from a head injury. (The reality TV star lives with husband Todd Bradley, her 18-year-old daughter, Gwen, from a past relationship, and Gwen’s boyfriend.)
“There was so much stress at home for me, but, obviously, my mom’s gone from being my mom and Gwen’s grandma to, kind of, us taking care of her and her living with us,” Bronwyn shares. “I think that’s been a really hard transition for her. As you get older, even in my own role with my daughter, when I’m not her mom, I’m more of a support system or a friend. You do feel a loss of control, [and] that’s very destabilizing.”
Having her mom around more, according to Bronwyn, also “pushed” the mother-daughter pair to experience unprecedented levels of tension.
“All these changes really pushed it all to the surface,” Bronwyn says. “I adore and love my mom, but we’re both very different and very willing to tell each other what we’re different about. It’s been really interesting for my mom to be in a different capacity … living at my house, having some health challenges.”
Bronwyn filmed with both of her parents during season 6, often trying to “be respectful” of her dad’s ability to give consent to production.
“We did film small things with him,” she recalls. “It’s something I know I’m going to look back on and be so happy that we have that footage.”
Bronwyn and her mother, meanwhile, rehashed how their dynamic had strained amid the Bravo star’s pregnancy with Gwen. (Bronwyn got pregnant when she was a teenager with her then-boyfriend, who died when Gwen was a toddler.)
Throughout her stint on RHOSLC so far, Bronwyn has inspired fans with her vulnerability and candor about life’s struggles, specifically surrounding her journey as a single parent. Early on in season 5, Bronwyn navigated a heartfelt conversation with Gwen about the experience after it was revealed that fellow Housewife Lisa Barlow was close to Gwen’s biological father’s family.
“I’m incredibly proud of how my daughter handled the conversation she and I had about her father and his family,” she says, detailing her best moment from filming RHOSLC. “I don’t know that I can take any credit [for] how wonderful she is, but you really got to see how mature and wise she is, even at such a young age.”
Bronwyn continues, “People have reached out to both [Gwen and I] and said, You know, ‘I grew up in a family that was like x, or wasn’t this, or I didn’t know my actual biological parents till this time in my life.’ It’s been so great to feel like people resonate with our story or see themselves in parts of it.”
During season 5, Bronwyn and Gwen also had conversations about whether the teenager was open to meeting her paternal grandparents.
“She has not met or seen them still,” Bronwyn reveals. “When we were going through it, there were conversations, obviously, that Lisa [Barlow] had tried to get going between us. It just never felt like the right moment for my daughter.”
Bronwyn had been friends with Lisa, 50, years before joining the RHOSLC franchise, however, their bond fractured during the current season. After Bronwyn confronted Lisa over her alleged legal drama, the Vida Tequila founder screamed that her costar was a “gout d*** sucker,” a dig about Bronwyn and Todd’s 26-year age gap and their sex life.
“It didn’t bother him. I kept being like, ‘OK, this was coming,’” Bronwyn tells Us of Todd’s reaction to the insult. “Todd does not have gout in his genitals. He had it in his feet like 18 [or] 24 months ago, and I made fun of it, which I think is where that came from. I’ve since been educated extensively on gout. That’s all people ever want to talk to me about now.”
Todd, 66, has made cameos on RHOSLC, both with the entire cast and just his wife.
“This season takes a different approach than last season. Last season, he met the other husbands [and] he talked to them,” Bronwyn says. “Obviously, he and I took [most of the cast] on a trip, so he was involved.”
Bronwyn and Todd cohosted a couple’s getaway to Palm Springs, California, during season 5 in honor of their 10th anniversary. The trip, however, quickly raised eyebrows when Todd seemed to gift his wife a pricey $4 million diamond necklace. Lisa later claimed during the reunion that Bronwyn and Todd never actually purchased the necklace, which they rebuffed. Bronwyn ultimately admitted that Lisa was correct when season 6 returned.
“I want to be very clear that I did lie at the reunion and say I had it because I thought I would have it by the time the reunion aired,” Bronwyn stresses to Us. “Because of what came out [at] the reunion, I ended up switching and getting it from a different jeweler. So, I have a necklace. … It’s different from the one we saw in Palm Springs.”
Despite the drama, Todd will continue to join Bronwyn onscreen during the remaining season 6 episodes.
“This season, you’re only gonna see Todd with me,” she says. “I support Todd making whatever choice is best for him. He has a business outside of the show that does not naturally overlap with what we do on the show. His partners don’t watch the show, aren’t interested in watching the show [and] don’t know how to explain that in their line of work.”
Bronwyn continues, “Todd felt like he wanted to still find a way to be supportive of me, but not be a part of what was going on.”
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
For more from Bronwyn and the other Reality Stars of the Year, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
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