Brynn Whitfield, a cast member of ‘The Real Housewives of New York,’ candidly shared her painful childhood experiences with her co-stars, shedding light on her harrowing ordeal of neglect and the fear she endured after being taken away from her parents due to mistreatment.
The atmosphere on ‘The Real Housewives of New York’ took a serious turn as Brynn Whitfield bravely disclosed the details of her tumultuous childhood and the unsettling emotions that followed her removal from her parents’ home.
Previous episodes had unveiled that Brynn did not grow up with her biological parents due to their legal troubles, which rendered them incapable of raising her.
The 36-year-old reality star and her siblings were raised by their maternal grandmother, Darlene Heslin. While they found refuge within their family, it did not erase the emotional struggles of the challenging transition.
“My grandma — my mom’s mom — came in and she adopted us and I was scared I was going to get taken away,” Brynn shared with her fellow cast members. “I just remember for three years I was scared.”
She emphasized, “I was scared out of my mind. It was f**ked up.”
After being removed from her parents’ custody due to an unfit environment, Brynn felt compelled to prove herself in order to secure a different living situation.
Brynn recalled her childhood thoughts, saying, “If I’m cute enough and funny enough and smart enough and clever enough and I don’t complain, then they’ll let me stay where I want to.”
Sadly, this trauma had serious repercussions when she was younger.
“I was so upset that I actually, like, [as] a first grader, I like drank a bottle of Dimetapp because I wanted to sleep forever,” she revealed to her co-stars. Dimetapp is an over-the-counter children’s cold medicine.
The other cast members empathized with Brynn’s revelations.
Jenna Lyons expressed in a confessional, “I saw, like, her little girl remembering not being cared for. She’s such a beautiful, vivacious, funny, warm, smart girl, and to think of that living in her head just feels awful. It upset me a lot.”
Erin Dana Lichy noted the gravity of Brynn’s experience, acknowledging that no one else on the show could truly comprehend it.
“She went through a level of trauma that I don’t think anyone in this room can understand. So I get why she doesn’t want to talk about it,” Erin remarked.
Brynn also shared that her father had severed ties with her but reconnected with her during his final days, before passing away from cirrhosis of the liver.
These revelations come amid Brynn’s participation in the reality show, adding layers of complexity to her persona beyond the glitz and glamour of the on-screen drama.
