Braunwyn Windham-Burke, Husband Sean Split Amid Open Marriage Arrangement: 'We Need A Break’

Braunwyn Windham-Burke and her husband Sean Burke have decided to temporarily separate.

The former "Real Housewives of Orange County" star and her husband of 26 years made the announcement during a joint Instagram Live Monday night, Us Weekly reported. They detailed their plans to live apart for several months and co-parent their seven children — Bella, 20, Rowan, 18, Jacob, 15, twins Curran and Caden, 8, Koa, 6, and Hazel, 3.

According to the former couple, she will be moving to Hawaii for the summer, while Sean will rent a place in Newport Beach, California, which Fernanda Rocha — who Braunwyn is dating — helped him find.

"We are packing up this house, the one we filmed in last year, and we are moving," she was quoted by Us Weekly as saying. "He is moving into a furnished rental for a few months and I am taking the kids to Hawaii for a while. We have decided jointly that we are going to take a few months apart."

"We’re going to see what that’s like, living apart for a little while," Sean added.

The pair said they have yet to decide on what the future holds for them in terms of their relationship, but one thing they are sure of is that they want space. Braunwyn and Sean confirmed that they will reassess their situation at the end of the summer.

"What we would like to do is when this is over, get a house that the kids stay in and then we might go [back and forth]," the reality star said. "We haven’t decided if, after this little experiment of having a few months apart, if we are gonna come back together and live together as friends and family, or if we’re going to just keep the kids in the house and we’ll come in and out. … We need a break. We need some space right now."

Braunwyn came out as a lesbian in December 2020. While there had previously been rumors that her marriage with Sean has long been on the rocks, she said at the time that they do not plan to divorce and will move forward with an open marriage.

"I love him dearly, we haven’t gotten along this well in a long time. We’re redefining what marriage means to us. Not following the old, antiquated rules anymore," she told Entertainment Tonight.

Braunwyn continued, "We are [and] we will be married forever. We have one hundred percent faith we are going to raise our kids and grandkids together. That being said, do we have to fall into the social norms that everyone else does? No. We're doing it our own way. Like I said, [it's a] modern marriage."

Braunwyn announced that she had a girlfriend in the same month, but she and Kris, whom she met on a dating app, broke up in April. Two months later, she confirmed that she had moved on with Rocha.

Meanwhile, in an Instagram Q&A earlier this year, Braunwyn shared that she would be heartbroken if Sean ever fell for someone else.

"Will you be ok if Sean ends up falling in love with someone else and decides to try w/them," one fan asked.

"Nope, I'll be heartbroken," she responded.

As for Sean, he said during the Q&A that he wasn't sure if he would find new love. While he might start dating again in the future, he confirmed he had no concrete plans at the moment because it's "hard to date during a pandemic."