Kelsey Swanson revealed that she and her longtime boyfriend broke up on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, but there’s even more to the story behind their split than what viewers heard in Episode 6.
As Kelsey explained on The Real Housewives of Rhode Island After Show, she knew that her now-ex was seeing other people “at the very beginning” of their 10-year relationship, but, later on, she found out that she still wasn’t the only woman in his life. “I would hear things,” Kelsey explained. “I never asked, but he never told.”
Though she’s been open about their “unconventional” arrangement on RHORI, Kelsey clarified that polyamory wasn’t necessarily what she “signed up for.” Rather, their relationship “happened to form into that, and it took on a life of its own,” she said. And so, as “hard” as it was, she eventually just tried to “keep [her] emotions out of it” and respected her partner’s wishes.
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“I trained my brain so hard to just accept what it was, so that I wasn’t disappointed,” Kelsey added. “I was always in constant fear and anxiety of what I was gonna find out next. It’s not a good feeling at all. It really sucks.”
She also referenced the fact that when they began dating, there was a two-plus-decade age difference between them. “I was… staying in my lane,” Kelsey said. “As a 20-something-year-old girl, 21, I’m gonna tell this 43-year-old what to do? Like, no. I was afraid to ask the questions.”
She continued, “As bad as that was, there were so many other great things that we were doing together, that he was doing for me. … You take your emotions out of it. And that’s why I said the relationship lacked the emotional aspect, because I was forced to not care. And, to me, you can only grow so much without the emotional side of it.”
Kelsey Swanson explains how her ex “hid” his other romances
Kelsey also claimed that her ex was careful not to raise her suspicions, noting that she never caught him “on the phone with some girl” in front of her, for example. “He still hid everything,” she said. “He would be like, ‘Oh, I’m going away,’ and then I’d find out there was also somebody else joining the trip.”
The former Miss Rhode Island USA went on to recount one specific vacation that he took without her. Because he was going to be on a cruise, he told Kelsey that he’d have limited cell service or Wi-Fi. “But he still made it a point to call me maybe once a day or like twice a day,” she explained. “Enough for me to not question it.”
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The truth eventually came out, however: “I did see stuff online from Facebook. That was the first time I found out. I remember we were in bed, and I started crying, and I said, ‘I see all of this stuff. Like, so-and-so said this. I see it online. What’s going on?’ And he shut me right down. … He shut me down to the point of, like, ‘Don’t ask questions.'”
As for whether or not she considered that to be cheating, however, Kelsey was unsure, admitting, “You can look at it from eight different perspectives, honestly.”
Kelsey Swanson shares more details on what led to her breakup
As Kelsey noted on RHORI, another major factor that led to her split was the fact that she wanted to walk down the aisle and start a family. She knew, however, that neither would become a reality if she stayed with her longtime boyfriend. In an exclusive interview with BravoTV.com, Kelsey shared even more intel on the matter.
“At the age of 30, I made the hard decision to do what’s best for me to move on and find somebody who wants to get married and have kids and wants to grow with me,” she elaborated. “It was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make in my life, where the first step is always the hardest. Deciding to step into the unknown and to just put my faith in the possibility of being married and having kids one day is kind of what drove me to leave, I guess. Or putting that as a priority in my life.”
Once again, her ex’s age also factored into her decision to move out of the massive home they shared. “He was 22 years older than me,” Kelsey pointed out. “He already has kids, and they’re grown up now. He’s not redoing that in his life. He’s been married. He’s kind of already been there, done that, so I’ve always known that it wasn’t in my future with him.”
She continued, “He’s still a very nice guy and a wonderful man, so it was kind of just like, OK, do I put myself first and the priority of having kids and being married? Or do I stay in this great life that I have, but feel unfulfilled?”
Is Kelsey Swanson still dating her “other man,” Bill?
Yes, Kelsey revealed that she is still dating William “Bill” L’Europa, formerly known as her “other man” on RHORI. What’s more, she can see marriage and children for them, down the line.
“Right now, I’m in a new relationship where I see all those things happening in my life,” she told BravoTV.com. “It’s exciting to like feel like it’s in my path, or it’s in my future.”
Kelsey previously detailed how she has known Bill, who works in the insurance and restoration businesses, since she developed a crush on him all the way back in seventh grade. Though they “saw each other here and there in high school,” the two reconnected a couple [of] years ago and “stayed connected ever since.”
“He’s very, very generous and kind and sweet — and probably loves me more than anyone I’ve ever met in my life, other than my parents,” she joked.
Otherwise, Kelsey has been focused on her next chapter.Â
“It’s good, it’s exciting, but also a definite change of lifestyle,” she concluded. “I’m going from living in a 16,000-square-foot home to an apartment by myself. So, it’s definitely a change, but it’s exciting in all the best ways, too. The good outweighs the bad, really.”
As she continues to move on from her breakup on RHORI, get even more details on Kelsey’s new relationship with Bill today.
—Reporting by Stephanie Gomulka
