Kelsey previously opened up about her "unconventional" relationship with her mystery boyfriend
Credit: Bravo
NEED TO KNOW
- Kelsey Swanson revealed that she ended her decade-long relationship in the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island
- She attributed the split in part to their unconventional arrangement, where he lived without her for half a year, which she said no longer aligned with her future goals
- Admitting fears about being on her own for the first time in her adult life, Kelsey shared that her ex will continue to financially support her
Kelsey Swanson has ended things with her boyfriend, whose identity has not been disclosed, after a decade together.
In the Sunday, May 3 episode of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, Kelsey, 31, revealed that she decided to break up with the mystery man, explaining that she felt like “the relationship has run its course.” For the past 10 years, Kelsey’s ex had been funding her lifestyle as he split his time between Rhode Island (where she lived in his house) and Miami, an arrangement that she admitted did not fit into the future she wants for herself.
“There's nothing more that I’m going to get out of this relationship or that's going to change and be different than what it is now,” Kelsey told costar Liz McGraw after sharing the news. “It wasn't just like one specific moment that was like, ‘All right, I'm leaving.’ It kept building and building and building, and every time I thought it couldn't get worse, it got worse.”
“I know in general, my relationship is very unconventional,” she acknowledged. “It was a certain way at the beginning, and there was maybe one other person, but as the years went on, there was more people than I initially thought.”
Credit: Bravo
Liz, who has known Kelsey’s ex since high school, noted that she was “not surprised” by the split and offered her support as Kelsey navigated being newly single.
“I want [a] real, solid relationship,” Kelsey said, going on to share that her ex “thought that I was making the right decision for myself.”
“We fell asleep hugging each other, because we both knew this was the end,” she added.
In the episode, Liz went to help Kelsey move out of his 16,000-square-foot mansion. After living with her parents, Kelsey moved into his house when she met her ex at 20 years old.
“I am terrified,” Kelsey confessed. “I went straight from my parents' house to his house. So this is the first time where I'm taking that step, and, literally, I'm going to be solo.”
Earlier this season, she introduced her other boyfriend, William "Bill" L'Europa, who she knew from childhood. While Kelsey’s ex already had children and wasn’t open to having any more, Liz expressed her hope for Bill and Kelsey, knowing they are aligned on what they want in the future.
"Billy has the same life goals as Kelsey — he wants kids, he wants to get married, he wants to build a life together," Liz said, further emphasizing to Kelsey: “It's so commendable. Who would leave all of this? This is what most people aim for their entire lives. You are courageous enough to step out and forge toward your own.”
Credit: Bravo
She then gifted a tearful Kelsey a box with a message in it that read, “No path is final. No light is lost. You were born to begin again and blaze your own way home.”
“Throughout the relationship, he was always giving me money, so I didn't have to work,” Kelsey explained. “Now that we're not together anymore, I need to be more self-sufficient, and hair and makeup has always been a passion of mine. Now it's actually time to be an adult. It's stressful.”
Later, during a cast trip to Rhode Island’s famous Newport Mansions, Kelsey opened up about having a “hard” few days and her fears about supporting herself for the first time.
“Everything that he has taken care of for me, that's now gonna be on me,” she said. “I need to figure out where I'm gonna live. I feel like I don't know certain parts of adulthood, I guess you can say — bills, mortgage payments. People talk about principal payment. The principle of what? I don't know what that means. I never even knew what my dad's career was. All I knew was that the bills were getting paid, and he bought me a car and paid for my college.”
At dinner that night, however, Kelsey revealed that her ex will continue to support her as she transitions out of the relationship.
“We have a good relationship,” she shared. “There's still a lot of things that connect the two of us. He still pays for things. He pays my health insurance, pays for my car insurance, and I'm getting a place of my own, and my ex agreed to pay the rent just so that I get on my feet.”
“I'm taking what I'm entitled to,” she continued, comparing the split to “a divorce.” “It has nothing to do with being independent or still being on his nipple. He said, ‘Whatever I can do to help you, I will.’ If I was actually married to him for 10 years, I would be walking away with a lot more. If anyone believes it's wrong for him to pay for that stuff just has clearly not been with the right person.”
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The Real Housewives of Rhode Island airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on Bravo. Episodes will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.
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