Bronwyn Newport, the newest member of SLC’s ‘Real Housewives,’ says ‘I’m learning a lot about myself’

From the artwork still waiting to be hung in her Salt Lake City mansion to her growing celebrity profile as the newest cast member of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” Bronwyn Newport agrees that her life now is a work in progress.

“My friendships with the ladies on the show — you could take that ‘work in progress’ all kinds of ways,” Newport said with a laugh during a recent interview in her Federal Heights home.

Midway through the Bravo reality show’s fifth season, and her first, Newport is emerging as a strong, entertaining presence — with her sharp opinions; her frank discussions about her relationship with her venture capitalist husband, Todd Bradley; some tender moments with her teen daughter, Gwen; and her bold fashion choices.

Watching the first seven episodes — episode 8 aired Wednesday, after this interview was conducted — Newport said, “I’m learning a lot about myself.”

“Filming it is a very different beast than watching it air,” she said. “During filming, I thought, ‘Nothing could be harder than this.’ That’s not true. Watching it air is watching yourself make mistakes, watching other people’s interpretation of the choices you made. It’s much more eye-opening than any of the therapy I’ve ever done in my life.”

Since the new season launched on Sept. 18, Newport has been called a “fan favorite” by some online writers. However, she said, it’s a label that “feels tenuous to me.”

“What do people who watch TV like more than loving someone? Watching that person fall apart,” she said.

Newport said she reads fan comments on social media — “I’m a masochist,” she joked — and the response has been “super positive.”

“I like self-help books. I have had lots of therapy. I like feedback,” she said. “So I’m hoping I come out of it with the friendships I went into it with, and some new ones, and I’m hoping I am a better, more evolved friend.”

It is her rookie season, though, and Newport is aware that newcomers to the Salt Lake City edition of “The Real Housewives” franchise have had difficulty hanging on.

Jennie Nguyen joined the show in season 2 but was fired by Bravo as season 3 started filming over racist social-media posts. Angie Harrington started as a “friend” in season 2, but chose to leave after season 3 to care for her son, who was diagnosed with autism. And there’s Monica Garcia, who was introduced in season 4 and cast out by season’s end for her participation in the “Reality von Tease” social media accounts that trolled the other Housewives.

The only non-original cast member who has stayed is Angie Katsanevas, who joined as a “friend” in season 3 and was given her snowflake — the token full-time cast members hold in the opening credits — in season 4.

”I almost feel like Angie has been on the show forever, just because she’s such a large personality in the cast,” Newport said. “If I can survive, Angie and I will have broken the new-person curse.”

How Bronwyn joined ‘The Real Housewives’

Before being cast for “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” Newport said she never watched the show — though she had seen episodes of the franchise from other cities.

“I thought there was this nobility in not prejudging the women by watching the previous seasons,” she said.

Newport had known original cast member Lisa Barlow from before the series started. And, thanks to social media and simply living in Salt Lake City, she knew original cast member Jen Shah went to prison for fraud — and she knew about Reality von Tease, because one of the operators of the account had sent her messages. (Newport said she did not engage with them.)

“So I knew what had happened, but there’s a difference between knowing what had happened and going through it,” she said.

Before filming this season, Newport said she had little preparation. “This is going to make me sound so self-centered, but it’s the honest truth: All I cared about was my outfits,” she said.

Newport added that there was a more serious concern: “I really cared about protecting my husband and my daughter.” Newport said she had talked to Bravo years ago about being part of the show, and Todd and Gwen were always the dealbreaker.

“I said, ‘My husband and daughter are private, and they don’t want to do it,’ and I stand by that statement,” she said. “I am a very open person. I want to say it right to your face. I want to discuss it. I want to hear all your thoughts about it. But my daughter is not that person. And we were not all the way through it” when Gwen was in her adolescence.

The difference now is that Gwen is 18 and “is healthy and happy and thriving,” Newport said. “There are some things that Gwen feels we’ve gone through that she is willing to speak about, and my husband is willing to be supportive of me. … So my prep was really, ‘How could I show who I was without encroaching on who they are?’ Because they didn’t sign up to do it.”

A few weeks before filming, Newport said she and Gwen went to a Utah Jazz game with Barlow. “She said to my daughter, ‘Are you ready for this Bravo thing?’ And Gwen was, like, ‘I guess so.’ And [Barlow] was, like, ‘You’re definitely not.’”

Gwen has made limited appearances on the show so far — and was a major part of one of the season’s most emotional moments.

In episode 5, Bronwyn and Gwen talked about Gwen’s father — a boyfriend who got Bronwyn pregnant when she was a student at Brigham Young University, then departed from Bronwyn’s life. The man died a couple years after Gwen was born, and his parents have never met their granddaughter.

Barlow told Bronwyn that she knew the father’s family, and offered to help them connect, but Gwen later told Bronwyn that an exchange of text messages left her unsure about whether she wanted to meet them.

Bronwyn’s fashion sense

In the season 5 premiere, Newport made two entrances, both of which showed off her love of fashion.

Arriving at Barlow’s “Besos” Valentine’s Day party, Newport wore a red heart-shaped coat from Yves Saint Laurent that she said cost $15,000. The show then featured a flashback, in which Newport met Barlow for lunch at Salt Lake City’s Edison House, and Newport wore a lemon-yellow leopard print ensemble, with a bra top, boy shorts and a puffy jacket — in February, when it was 37 degrees outside.

“I wasn’t prepared to be freezing, but I was freezing,” Newport said. It was her first day of filming, and she had planned to park in front of Edison House, and walk the few steps to the door. “I was not prepared for [the producers] to want the slo-mo montage of me getting out of a car, and crossing the street,” she said.

Newport has worn outfits by several designers on the show. One of her favorites is “Project Runway” champ-turned-adviser Christian Siriano — and Siriano is a fan of hers, too.

On a Sept. 30 episode of the Bravo talk show “Watch What Happens Live,” host Andy Cohen asked which “Real Housewives” cast members Siriano designs for, and he said “they’re not on my list, because they don’t pay. … But my newest Housewife, Bronwyn, is, like, my No. 1 customer, and has been shopping for years, and spends real money.”

Newport wore a custom Siriano suit jacket and dress, with the word “vote” printed all over it, on Oct. 31. The occasion was a campaign rally in Las Vegas for Vice President Kamala Harris — the same rally where pop star and actress Jennifer Lopez spoke to endorse Harris.

“I am very outspoken about abortion rights and trans rights, and things that are not always the norm in Salt Lake City,” she said. (Newport said she wanted to vote in the 2024 election, but could not. She was born in São Paulo, and has dual citizenship in Brazil and the United Kingdom. She is working toward earning her U.S. citizenship, but she said she wasn’t naturalized in time for this year’s election.)

The “vote” suit has special meaning for Newport. Siriano, she said, made it from the same fabric that he made a gown for her when she worked on President Joe Biden’s campaign in 2020 — so she considers it a good-luck charm. And, she said, Siriano used the leftover fabric to make a dress for Dr. Jill Biden, which the first lady wore at a campaign rally in June.

For Newport, she said, wearing something fashionable can serve two functions.

“It is either a facade I’m hiding behind when I’m not feeling my best,” she said. “If I’m not feeling my best, you can tell because I’m in sky-high heels and a tight dress that reminds me to stand up straight. It reminds me not to slouch, and I have to be more aware of my body, and that focuses me when I know my mind is spinning.”

“... Or,” she continued, “it’s a very clear expression that I feel very comfortable in myself, and I want to be funny, or I want to be loud, or I want to be on theme.”

Fashion “is, yes, an expression of who I am, but it’s also a love letter to the art [the designer is] creating,” Newport said. “Is there a nicer compliment than to say, ‘I wore this for my wedding,’ or ‘I wore that for my anniversary,’ or ‘I wore that my first time on TV.’ … It’s literally the fabric of my life.”

Lessons of reality television

Being a new member of the cast, Newport said she aimed to come in with a clean slate.

“I don’t feel like when you upset me, I have this five-year history of all the times you’ve upset me,” she said. “I kind of get to lovingly and laughably be, like, above it a little bit — which, combined with my propensity to be blunt, maybe came across harsh.”

Watching the first episodes, she said, “I didn’t realize I could have a little bit of a prickly exterior. [Todd] would say I’m direct or I’m honest. I think if you’re one of the ladies on the show, you might have said I was blunter, in your face.”

So far this season, Newport’s most notable confrontation has been with Heather Gay, who disclosed early on her distrust of Newport. In episode 2, Gay said in a confessional that “I’m wary of people who have strong, harsh opinions of people they’re just meeting for the first time.”

In episode 7, Newport invited Gay over to her house to try to smooth things over before a planned couples’ trip to Palm Springs, but Gay was not receptive to the overture.

On the Palm Springs trip, though, the relationship that ignites fireworks is between Newport and Barlow. In the episode that aired Wednesday, Newport calls out Barlow for not showing the same loyalty that Newport says she shows Barlow — after Barlow opts not to defend Newport against Gay’s criticism.

“It’s up and down [with Lisa], and it’s up and down to this day,” Newport said, before episode 8 aired. “I love Lisa. I’ve loved Lisa for a long time. I think I know Lisa as well as I can, and I love her exactly for who she is. That doesn’t mean sometimes it’s not hard to like her — and she probably feels the same way about me.”

Newport said that the situations on “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” may be contrived — like the trips this season to Milwaukee or Palm Springs — but the emotions are 100% real.

“When my feelings were hurt, they were genuinely hurt,” she said. “When I acted selfishly, that’s because I was being selfish in that moment. That was not some act to have a character arc, you know? I really meant it in that moment.”

Looking back, she said, “there are some things I would say louder again into a microphone still today. And there are some things I’m going to apologize for when we all catch up at the reunion.”

Newport said she doesn’t know what her life will be like when the season is over. “I’m really focused right now on not trying to change it,” she said. “Now that people are watching it, I need to play it the way that we filmed it. … This is what happened — good, bad and ugly.”

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