RHOC’s Emily Simpson Reveals if She’s Considering Divorce From Shane, Biggest Challenge in Marriage and How Shane “Drives [Her] Nuts”

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Emily Simpson revealed whether she was considering a divorce from her husband, Shane Simpson, after Thursday’s episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County saw them at odds.

After admitting that co-parenting their 11-year-old son Luke, who has been battling a number of medical conditions in recent years, has been challenging for her and Shane, 50, and suggesting that Shane had grown resentful of her career, Emily, 50, discussed the status of their relationship, their biggest challenge, and how Shane “drives [her] nuts.”

“Shane and I love each other. We’ve been together for 18 years. I feel like Shane and I are just a normal marriage. We’re just both very authentic about where we’re at. It is difficult. Do I feel like we’re gonna get divorced? No. But would I like our relationship to be better? Yes,” Emily explained on the October 22 episode of the RHOC: After Show.

According to Emily, the changes in her life in recent years have created challenges in her marriage.

“This is not how I envisioned our life at all. Shane’s very traditional. What I envisioned was he was working, and my role was mother, caretaker, be at home. And Shane always said to me, ‘You can not work, you can work full-time, you can work part-time … that’s up to you,’” she recalled.

Now, nearly two decades later, Shane is a stay-at-home dad.

“I’m working, and him needing appreciation, it drives me nuts. I have to wake up every day and be like, ‘Thank you for taking care of your children?’ It’s a lot of feelings,” she admitted.

Earlier this month, on an episode of the RHOC: After Show, Emily revealed that when it came to co-parenting Luke, who has been diagnosed with ARFID and PANDAS, she and Shane “have completely different parenting styles.”

“I understand that his brain doesn’t work like the other kids. You cannot get him to, like, brush his teeth, put pajamas on, and go to bed. He shuts down. He covers his ears. He’s not ready. It takes a lot of nurturing,” Emily shared. 

Then, during another episode of the RHOC: After Show, Emily said it hadn’t been easy to navigate her and Shane’s evolving roles.

“Shane quit working, period, to be able to take care of [our] kids, and take care of Luke,” she explained. “When he made that decision, I wasn’t filming. So we were together, a team, that was both home, taking care of kids, divide and conquer. Then when I started filming, it took me away from being able to parent with him as much as I normally did. So then the brunt of taking care of the kids was on him.”

Looking back, Emily said Shane seemed to grow more bitter the more time she was away.

“I think maybe he had some resentment because it looked like I was ‘out having fun’ because it’s like, we’re in Vegas, and then we’re in Tokyo, and then I’m going to dinners, and I’m doing all these things,” she reasoned, “and I think he’s at home trying to take care of all these kids and Luke and all the needs and everything and I think he was worn out, and I think he was exhausted, and instead of saying, ‘I’m worn out and exhausted and we need to figure out how we can manage this better,’ I think it came out like snarky shots at me.”

“It’s not like I’m lying on the couch eating Bon Bons and you’re holding down the fort. Like, I felt like I was working equally as hard too,” Emily added.

The Real Housewives of Orange County season 20 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.