RHOC’s Heather Dubrow and Alexis Bellino Bonded Over Their Transgender Sons

Actual Housewives of Orange County stars Heather Dubrow and Alexis Bellino are opening up about how they bonded off-camera over their transgender sons.

In an interview with E! Information printed on June 1 — the beginning of Delight Month for the LGBTQ+ group — Dubrow, 55, spoke out about how she and Bellino, 47, discovered a particular connection after Dubrow’s 13-year-old son, Ace, and Bellino’s 16-year-old son, Miles, got here out as transgender.

Dubrow advised the outlet that though she and her RHOC costar “have identified one another for a really very long time … and did not at all times see eye-to-eye,” they discovered that “having LGBTQIA+ youngsters positively introduced us nearer.”

In March 2023, Dubrow shared that her youngest little one had come out as transgender and had modified his identify to Ace. On the time, she posted an image on Instagram of a seaside with “Ace” written within the sand, writing within the caption, “We love you, our youngest son, Ace ❤️.”

Equally, in October 2022, Bellino shared a publish saying Miles’ transition and identify, writing within the caption of their selfie collectively: “Hey world, that is Miles. My transgender son.”

“He is now a month shy of 15 yrs outdated, so he is seen the questions and feedback made about him on my IG. Miles now has a voice and has requested me to do that publish,” Bellino continued on the time, noting that she had stopped posting on social media “because of this transition in Miles’ life, however he is now able to ‘come out’ and to make use of this platform to cease any hate or questions.”

Though Dubrow had been absent from Bravo for some time, she advised E! Information that she determined to return to RHOC in 2021 “as a result of I assumed, ‘Hey, we have this nice platform, they’re asking us to return again, would not or not it’s good to indicate our very regular household and perhaps begin conversations in different folks’s households?’ ” 

By no means miss a narrative — join PEOPLE’s free each day publication to remain up-to-date on the most effective of what PEOPLE has to supply​​, from movie star information to driving human curiosity tales. 

Ace is not the one considered one of Dubrow’s 4 youngsters who’s a part of the LGBTQ+ group. Her eldest daughter, Max, 20, got here out as bisexual in June 2020, and her 17-year-old daughter, Kat, got here out as a lesbian of their household textual content message chain one yr later. Dubrow can also be mother to 20-year-old Nick, Max’s twin brother, and she or he shares all of her youngsters along with her longtime husband, plastic surgeon and Botched star Terry Dubrow.

Bellino, in the meantime, can also be mother to 17-year-old James and 16-year-old Mackenna, Miles’ twin, whom she shares with ex-husband Jim Bellino. The pair finalized their divorce in 2018.

Dubrow advised E! Information that having her daughter come out within the household group chat was “a fantastic factor.”

“I got here from a household that was very Fifties and nobody ever talked about something and every part was form of brushed beneath the rug,” she stated. “And I knew that if I had been fortunate sufficient to have a household, I’d be the alternative of that. So, I’ve to say I am pleased with them, I am pleased with me, I am pleased with us as a household for having the communication that we’ve.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is right here! How shortly are you able to resolve it? Play now!

Dubrow added that she tries to not share an excessive amount of details about her youngsters’ lives with the general public, noting: “I do not like to inform my kids’s tales for them.”

“That is their journey and their tales to inform in the event that they select to take action,” she defined. “However when different folks, sadly, wish to label your youngsters and inform their tales, generally it’s important to say one thing.”