Sutton Stracke is officially becoming Sutton Brown again. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member divulged she had decided to revert to her maiden name on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills After Show.
“After Christmas, I really decided to do Sutton Brown,” she shared. “There were some things that went on that I just disagreed with,” she said, without adding further details on the Christmas situation.
During the After Show, Sutton revealed that her current legal name is Sutton Brown Stracke. Though she’s decided to drop Stracke, she isn’t looking forward to all the red tape.
“It’s gonna take a lot,” she told Kyle Richards and Erika Jayne. It’s a lot of paperwork.”
After Show producers asked Sutton when she might take the next step. “I think in the next couple of months,” she said.
Sutton Stracke unpacks her emotional conversation with her daughter about a name change
In case you need a refresher, Sutton’s decision to revert to her maiden name was prompted by her ex-husband Christian Stracke asking for an annulment from the Catholic Church. Sutton was notified that her marriage was annulled via a letter addressed to Sutton Brown.
Although initially hurt by the gesture, Sutton eventually decided to embrace it and debated legally changing her name back to Brown.
“A lot is changing in my life right now,” she explained to producers in Episode 9. “I think that women my age…start to change…physically, emotionally. Our hormones are all crazy. And then, also, we become these empty nesters where our baby birds leave. Which presents this question of, ‘Who are we?’ To lose your name, on top of it, is meaningful and difficult.”
During the Feb. 12 episode, Sutton called her daughter Porter to discuss the decision.
“I think it’s good if it’s what you want to do,” Porter told her mom.
“But it doesn’t make me less like your mother?” Sutton asked, to which Porter reassured her that it wasn’t the case.
“Lots of mothers have different last names than their children,” Sutton told producers. “I just never thought that would be me.”
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On the After Show, Sutton shared more about the emotional call with her daughter. “When she saw that I was so upset, I think that’s when she was like, ‘It’s okay. I’ve always thought of you as a Brown anyway,’” she said. “That’s when the roles reversed, and she became like the nurturing, ‘It’s okay,’ mother to me.”
Sutton confirmed that all her children, including her sons, are supportive of the decision. “I think when they get to be a certain age, they really don’t care,” she said.
Jennifer Tilly on Sutton Stracke’s name change
Sutton’s longtime friend Jennifer Tilly shared her worries about the decision, calling Sutton’s current name “sort of like your signature.”
“I mean, she’s just a wonderfully accomplished cosmopolitan woman,” Jennifer explained. “If her husband annulled the marriage, I totally understand not wanting to carry on that name. But at the same time, it is the name of all your children. And, you know, I think everyone’s gotten used to her as Sutton Stracke. And I didn’t even know, when she was first saying, ‘Call me Sutton Brown,’ I didn’t even know Brown was her maiden name.”
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“Sutton Brown to me, in a weird way, it’s like going backwards to the person that you were,” Jennifer concluded. “If she doesn’t want the name Stracke, I understand that, but I feel like she should pick another name.”
Don’t miss the shocking drama still to come on RHOBH Season 15, as Dorit Kemsley clashes with everybody in the mid-season trailer.
