Emily Simpson is speaking out about her son Luke’s medical condition and how it affected her marriage to Shane Simpson during filming for The Real Housewives of Orange County season 19.
As she also voiced her concerns about what would be shown on the new episodes, admitted she nearly quit during production, and explained why she ultimately stayed, Emily, 49, teased an unexpected conclusion to the season and opened up about the hardships she and Shane, 50, faced with their 10-year-old.
“We didn’t know what the problem was [with Luke]. We did a lot of testing with him over the course of filming, and we got a lot of diagnoses,” Emily shared on the June 30 episode of Access Hollywood‘s Housewives Nightcap. “We were trying to figure it out, and I don’t know if we figured it out. I still feel like he needs a lot more.”
According to Emily, Luke is much more “challenging” than his siblings, including his twin, Keller, sister, Annabelle, 12, and older step-siblings.
“He’s very complicated. He’s very complex … [So] Shane and I had to do a lot of therapy to understand how to parent him and be better for him because we can’t parent him the way we parent the other four,” she explained. “It was a process. It was a lot. We’re still learning. He’s much better, but I also worry about when school starts because I don’t know if he can handle it. I don’t know if he needs to be in a special school. We’re just trying to figure it all out.”
After mentioning “divorce” in the trailer, Emily’s fans were worried that she and Shane were splitting up. However, despite the comment being true to her feelings at the time, she confirmed they were still together and “not getting a divorce.”
“When I said it, that was a real concern because Shane and I were in the trenches during those four months of filming and even afterwards. It was very brutal on our marriage,” she admitted. “We weren’t on the same page. We were parenting differently. We were butting heads.”
As they navigated Luke’s health challenges, Emily felt she was taking things “more seriously,” while Shane was assuming the situation would work itself out, which “made [her] mad.” That, added with the fact that the two of them weren’t spending any quality time together, led to tough times.
“Things became so hard with Luke that we couldn’t leave and we couldn’t leave him with anyone else, and so we spent no time alone. It got very hard on our marriage,” she revealed. “Every day it was waking up and just trying to get through the day and struggling and going to bed crying at night and then waking up and doing it again the next day.”
At the time, Emily thought, “This is going to make us or break us.” Months later, she hopes their family’s story can help others.
“I thought it was so important to be authentic and real about what was going on because I feel like that’s our purpose when we’re filming this show, that we’re presenting our lives in such a raw and open way that people can see themselves in us,” she noted.
That said, Emily is concerned about how much she shared.
“I just hope that I didn’t do anything that was detrimental to my child. I worry sometimes because all the moms at his school watch the show. I worry, am I being too honest and open about what was going on? And then they have a conversation with their children, and then their children go to school and say something [to my son]. So on one hand, it was a struggle between being very open and wanting to protect my son at the same time,” she explained.
As Emily struggled to maintain a healthy balance, she found herself questioning if a role on RHOC was right for her.
“There were several times where I went to Shane, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is the best thing. Maybe I should quit. Maybe I need to be at home,’” Emily recalled.
In turn, Shane informed her that being with Luke more may not be what’s best.
“Then I had to think about, there’s a lot of women that work. That’s what we do and that’s our choice. And the show is mine, and it makes me who I am. I feel like it defines a part of me, and I enjoy it, and it’s how I contribute to the family. And I didn’t know if I took that away, does it make me a better mom? I don’t know. Probably not,” she reasoned.
Also, during the interview, Emily described RHOC season 19 as “dynamic” and “fun” with a surprise ending.
“The end is shocking and uncomfortable, at least it was for me … [it’s between two people but] we’re all kind of sucked into it and then we all are uncomfortable and then we all kind of don’t know what to do with it,” she teased.
The Real Housewives of Orange County season 19 premieres on Thursday, July 10, at 9/8c on Bravo.
