'Real Housewives' Wants To Make 'Weaning' Parties A Thing
This week on the RHOC, Braunwyn Windham-Burke throws a wild “weaning” party & later emotionally confesses what it actually meant to her
Braunwyn Windham-Burke has been an interesting addition to the Real Housewives of Orange County cast, to say the least. The mother of a literal household of children made waves this season when she admitted she has threesomes with her husband, and even more so when she and Tamra made out several times at a public dinner and in a club. “Braunwyn has had a good first season,” her RHOC cast-mate Shannon Beador said in a behind-the-scenes interview posted to BravoTV.com. “I give her a nine,” Tamra Judge added.
Well, this week, Braunwyn really took it up a notch, throwing a “freeing of the nipple”/”no more babies!”/”weaning” party to celebrate the fact that she recently stopped weaning her seventh child. The party was complete with plenty of shirtless men, a boobs-shaped cake, strippers, and lots of drunken antics. In other words, Braunwyn basically had a bachelorette party. “The whole reason I did this is I’ve been nursing for 20 years,” Braunwyn explains on the episode. “So, instead of being sad, like, ‘Oh, I’m not having anymore babies,’ I’m having a party for it.”
“I’m thinking weaning. I’m thinking breasts. I’m not thinking I’m seeing penises or a vagina there, but I saw both in the form of a stripper,” Shannon says later in an after-show interview.
The after-show interview takes a somber turn when a producer asks Braunwyn what her expectations for the weaning party were. With tears in her eyes, she says after a beat, “I’m not having anymore children… I would have 30 kids if I could. All I ever wanted my entire life was to be a mom. And I never wanted anything else. I never wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer; I just wanted to be a mom, and I just wanted to be a really good one.”
“And you are one,” Shannon says to her.
“It was a fun party, and I felt bad about this because you know what I realized at that party was what a big deal it was to me,” Brauwnyn says, getting further choked up. “I had this party to celebrate the end of it [having children], but I wasn’t really celebrating, not really.”
Shannon was surprised to hear Braunwyn’s confession about the party and how it left her feeling after the fact. “I’m shocked right now to see you cry, but I get your emotion. When we were all invited to this party, it was more like, ‘Woo! Sex gifts! Strippers!’ And I’m sad now, because I didn’t catch the emotional part because I get it!” Shannon continued to say: “This is what you did for 20 years; this is like a retirement party.”
Shannon may get it now, but viewers didn’t as the episode aired. In fact, many were left pretty confused.
No one is a bigger hater (of both the party and Braunwyn) than Vicki, though. “I think she’s a bad pick of a cast member. I think she brought our show to a low level,” Vicki said on BravoTV. But she didn’t stop there. “I think she watched me and the show for 13, 14 years, and she came in thinking she’s gotta be this sensationalism, and I think it’s not emulating Orange County. It’s really, really sad.”
Pretty harsh, Vick, don’tcha think?
