Bronwyn Newport remains hopeful.
As the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star—who previously opened up about the fractured relationship between her daughter Gwen, 18, and the family of her child’s father—recently shared, though they’ve long been estranged, detailing their journey on the Bravo show has provided somewhat of a silver lining.
In fact, Bronwyn and Gwen are still navigating the intricacies of their relationship with Gwen’s grandparents, whose son has since passed away.
“I have not heard from them directly, but they definitely want to have contact with Gwen,” the Bravo star told E! News in an exclusive interview for the limited-edition Van Leeuwen x Bravo Real Housewives Ice Cream event in New York City. “As she's just kind of turning 18 and becoming an adult, I still want to be involved in managing that communication, but it's also definitely for her to do for herself.”
“I'm just trying to be the person,” Bronwyn added, “who passes a long message to her.”
As for where Bronwyn herself stands with her ex’s family—who shied away from her over her teenage pregnancy—she’s content with the distance.
“I don't think they and I really have anything else to say to each other,” the 39-year-old noted. “But I really hope that they have a lot to say to Gwen: ‘I'm sorry, and we'd love to know you.’”
The RHOSLC star also shared how proud she is of her teenager for opening up about such a personal part of her life.
“My daughter was just so mature and so vulnerable and so willing to kind of explain and kind of show people what that looks like, to hold hard things,” Bronwyn shared. “She wants so badly, to have this relationship with them. And maybe it'll work, and maybe it won't, and it's been really positive, the response.”
In fact, though Bronwyn was initially a little apprehensive about sharing her story, she’s grateful for the support her family has gotten.
“Everybody has reached out and said, ‘I didn't know my parent growing up, or I had a nontraditional family of whatever kind,’ and it resonated with them in some way,” she explained. “And it's just been so, so important and wonderful. I was very nervous once that became something we were discussing on-camera, but it's actually been really beautiful.”
The limited-edition Van Leeuwen x Bravo Real Housewives Ice Cream is available in Van Leeuwen scoop shops nationwide.
(E! and Bravo are part of the NBCUniversal family.)