Shane Simpson’s role as a stay-at-home dad to his and wife Emily Simpson’s three children together gave him a whole new perspective on the dynamics in their marriage and home life, as he revealed to a producer on The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 20.
How to Watch
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo. Episodes stream next day on Peacock.
During the couple’s rare date night in Episode 8 of RHOC, Emily mentioned that Shane seemed like he “hated life” amid a recent “chaotic” bedroom remodel for their kids, Annabelle, 13, and twins Luke and Keller, 11. She then asked if he was “unhappy being a stay-at-home dad.”
“It’s challenging at times,” Shane admitted. “I’m juggling the three kids with school and everything. You don’t understand.”
He went on to add that it’s “kind of tough” when he’s putting the kids to bed while Emily just scrolls through her Instagram feed, for example. After Emily estimated that Shane handles roughly 70 percent of the family’s laundry, he also pointed out that, still, all he hears from her is that that “laundry’s out of control.”
RELATED: Emily Simpson Opens Up About Feeling Past “Resentment” Toward Shane: “Hadn’t Talked for Weeks”
As Shane remarked in a confessional, “I feel that Emily is unaware that I could use a break once in a while. That’s the frustrating part.”
Why RHOC‘s Shane Simpson quit his job
A licensed attorney by trade, Shane also broke down why he had become a stay-at-home dad in the first place.
“As the kids’ needs are growing, and Emily’s days are getting busier, it just made more sense that one parent not be working and try to stay at home and take the kids to school and all their activities,” he explained in his producer interview. “And then she could kind of run around with her head cut off like a chicken and do whatever she wants to do.”
RELATED: What Does the RHOC Cast Do For a Living?
Even so, Shane confirmed to Emily that he did miss working full-time. “I’ve got an ego,” he elaborated in his confessional. “I’m a man, and I want to provide. But even when I had a full-time job, I felt I was always full-time at home.”
Emily Simpson reveals why she and Shane Simpson “stay together”
Earlier in RHOC‘s Aug. 27 episode Emily had used the recent cast trip to Las Vegas to illustrate an area for improvement in their relationship. As she recalled, Shane took off the minute she walked through the door, because he’d just been with the kids for four days straight.
“There’s no, ‘How was Vegas? Was it fun? Did you have a good time?'” Emily said in a confessional. “It’s like transactional. It’s like tuck and roll. It’s like he’s like already driving down the street.”
She also described it being “impossible” for them to ever get out of the house together for one-on-one time. In the rare instances when they can plan a date night, she said that their son Luke “calls and texts constantly,” usually leading to them having to just “turn around and go home,” anyway. “I wouldn’t say it ruins our night,” Emily said. “We’re just used to it.”
Despite all of the ups and downs in Emily and Shane’s marriage, she pinpointed one reason why they had not split. “Sometimes I wonder how Shane and I have made it,” Emily confessed. “I think it’s because we’re both very dedicated to our children and our family. I don’t want them part of a broken home. I grew up like that. It was awful. And so that’s why we stay together. I just want it to be better.”
Emily shares an update on her and Shane Simpson’s marriage
As the RHOC cast visited newcomer Carmella Garcia’s home near San Diego in Episode 8, Emily updated the ladies on her and Shane’s dinner, telling them, “Things have been good lately.”
From her POV, she had been “making an effort” to give Shane more attention, whether that be through cooking him steaks or them “having sex all the time.”
“But you know what else they need besides attention? They need gratitude,” she added amid a larger discussion about all of the ladies’ relationships. “That’s very hard for me. Like, just say, ‘Thank you for doing the dishes. Thank you for taking the trash out. Thank you for taking care of the kids.’ Like, just say it.”
As Emily and Shane continue to work through their marital issues, don’t miss details on where RHOC is filmed.
