Real-Life Love
‘RHOC’ Star Braunwyn Windham-Burke Marries Girlfriend Jennifer Spinner
Braunwyn Windham-Burke is once again a married woman. The Real Housewives of Orange County alum tied the knot with girlfriend Jennifer Spinner in their home state of Tennessee.
The couple had been engaged since July 2023 and decided to legally get married on a whim. The ceremony took place at their home in Nashville and a notary was there to witness the exchange of vows.
Windham-Burke and Spinner opened up to PEOPLE about why they wanted to legalize their union now instead of the previously set plans of 2026. “This is just about us and us saying, ‘You know what? We love each other. Let’s do this,” said the Bravolebrity. They will still have the larger wedding celebration in Guatemala, California, and New York in 2026. She expressed, “Then when we actually have the big wedding, we won’t be as stressed out and we’ll be like, ‘This is just a party with our friends.'”
The reasoning for speeding up the legal side was quite clear: “Due to the uncertainty and the political and social climate around LGBTQ+ rights in Tennessee.”
Both worried about whether “gay marriage will go back to the states,” under Donald Trump’s second term as President of the United States, Spinner explained that she and her partner “just wanted to be legally protected and hopefully grandfathered into any changes that happen.” Windham-Burke added, “This is just making it legal and giving us those protections that we need as a queer couple living in the South.”
For the former RHOC star, this is “our own little act of protest. We want to stand in our power.”
Spinner, who is an advisory board member of Franklin Pride TN, added: “It’s not just a protest … Obviously we’re really privileged in a lot of ways, and we’re not just like every other couple that’s doing this, but we have kids that we’re raising together and we have ex-partners that we’re trying to co-parent with, and I think that we need the protections and the rights that marriage offer, and unfortunately, we’re not on our own timeline because the government is deciding that timeline for us in some ways.”
Yet, the two who wed on December 4 didn’t give their guests much time to confirm whether or not they would be in attendance. “I literally this morning [December 3] sent a text to our friends in Nashville, ‘We’re getting married tomorrow if you’re free,'” said the former Housewife. “So we’re going to have some of our friends here, but that is how we live our life like, ‘Let’s do this.'”
They previously had a ring exchange in North Carolina on New Year’s Eve and at an unofficial ceremony at Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas on Valentine’s Day. Now, they’ve finally made things legal.
It wasn’t just friends and the notary who were in attendance. Five out of Windham-Burke’s seven children were also there to celebrate their mom’s romance. Her other two kids, Rowan and Jacob, were in different states at the time.
Windham-Burke was previously married to ex-Sean Burke for 23 years. The former couple finalized their divorce in November 2023. This news didn’t come as a shock as the RHOC cast member came out as a lesbian in 2020.
