Making an entrance as a brand-new housewife is hard. Making your landing stick is a whole ‘nother ball game. Real Housewives of Salt Lake City rookie Bronwyn Newport has managed to do both with impressive success. Now, I’m not saying I agree with every single our art-collector designer die-hard does (like wearing an outfit reminiscent of Scheana Shay’s wedding two-piece to a religious ceremony). But I am a huge fan of how Bronwyn has brought a completely different angle to RHOSLC, so much so that it seems impossible to imagine season 6 without her. Not only did Bronwyn introduce the cameras to her (tiny bit terrifying) husband Todd, but also her brilliant daughter Gwen, who is headed off to college soon. One compelling piece of drama Bronwyn laid out of the table actually came unintentionally, however, when Bronwyn discovered Lisa Barlow was close friends with someone relevant to Gwen’s life. If you’re curious about the mother-daughter duo, then you’re in luck. I’m breaking down everything Bronwyn has shared about what happened with Gwen, her father, and her grandparents.
Who is Gwen Newports’s father on RHOSLC?
View this post on Instagram
On Salt Lake City, Bronwyn explained Gwen’s father was another student at Brigham Young University who Bronwyn met when 19 years old. Because of their Mormon faith, according to Bronwyn, the young man’s parents were “not supportive” of the pregnancy (in addition to causing a strain between Bronwyn and her own Mormon parents). Bronwyn said the man’s parents had a conversation with the teens suggesting Bronwyn should go have the baby in a different country while telling everyone she was “studying abroad,” which “deeply hurt” her. Bronwyn shared that Gwen’s father was “not involved” after Gwen was born, but she hoped that one day he would want to meet her. When Bronwyn’s father, who was a leader in the Mormon church, reached out to Gwen’s father and his parents to inform them the baby had arrived, they never reached back out. Bronwyn later found out he had passed away when Gwen was two. From Gwen’s perspective her dad “was never here” and because of his absence Gwen “doesn’t know half of [who she is].” Bronwyn, who is now 39, only had one photo to share with Gwen of her father.
What happened with Gwen’s grandparents on RHOSLC?
In the airport on the way back to Milwaukee, Bronwyn showed Lisa a picture of Gwen’s dad. The small world was really small-worlding when Lisa recognized the picture as the son of her friends, which shocked Bronwyn. When Lisa went back to Gwen’s grandparents with the news she could possibly connect them to their granddaughter, in Lisa’s words, they said “It’s time.” But after the initial talks, the excitement seemed to have faded, at least from Gwen’s POV.
“When they said they were excited to me… and this was meant to be, I was like wow,” Gwen told Bronwyn on episode 5. But Gwen was quickly turned off when her grandmother wrote that they were “looking forward to meeting” only if Gwen was “in a place to accept them,” as described by Bronwyn. Gwen didn’t feel the texts they sent about Gwen needing to be ready were “loving,” considering Gwen was a child when this all went down.
Did Gwen meet her grandparents?
No, despite Lisa re-introducing Gwen to her grandparents, Bronwyn has confirmed “the connection never came to fruition”. On the RHOSLC Aftershow, Lisa and Bronwyn disagree about how much Lisa stepped in to encourage the meeting. Bronwyn believes Gwen’s grandparents were never interested in meeting her daughter after 18 years of never trying to contact her. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Bronwyn explains her frustration with Gwen being forced to “clean up the mess of all the choices other people made.” Bronwyn is proud of Gwen for “handl[ing] it beautifully” even though, at least right now, she isn’t getting a “storybook happy kind of” ending right now.
How old is Gwen?
View this post on Instagram
Gwen was 18 years old and headed off to college when RHOSLC season 5 was filmed.
