‘RHORI’: Kelsey Clarifies Her Unconventional Relationship Status, the ‘Other Man’ in Her Life (Exclusive)

The Real Housewives of Rhode Island‘s Kelsey Swanson is clarifying her unconventional love life after introducing viewers to the “other man” she’s dating during Sunday’s episode of the Bravo show.

Kelsey recently opened up to PopCulture.com about her relationship status, explaining that while she was “prepared” for people to question her love life, she didn’t expect to be called a “polygamist” for dating her longterm boyfriend as well as her “other man,” Bill L’Europa, whom fans met in Sunday’s episode.

“I was used to it, and I was prepared for it, and I just wanted to be open,” Kelsey said of the scrutiny surrounding her love life, saying that she “wasn’t mad” that her fellow castmates were confused by her relationship status initially.

“The thing is that I’ve never been labeled a polygamist. So hearing that word to me was triggering,” she explained. Kelsey noted that because she’s unmarried, polyamory is more in line with what her romantic life actually looks like, but she still “never considered [her]self that,” and prefers to keep things labelless.

“The only thing that I cared about was that Rosie [DiMare] was saying it, not anybody else,” Kelsey continued. “So, that was where my frustration was at, not at actually talking about it.”

Kelsey also struggled to hear the other Housewives gossip about her having two boyfriends, as Bill was “never [her] boyfriend,” simply “somebody that [she] was seeing on the side.”

“They wanted to label it right away, ‘Oh, she has two boyfriends,’ but no, there was no label on him at that point,” she clarified.

As for Kelsey’s longterm boyfriend, who has remained anonymous on RHORI so far, the Bravo star revealed that while he did appear on her casting tapes at the start of the series’ development, he changed his mind once the show was brought under the Real Housewives umbrella.

“He was the one who was going to be on the show; however, once we realized that it was going to be a Housewife show … he was like, ‘Yeah, no. I’m not putting my trust in six ladies to not talk s—t about me, so I’m gonna be out on this one,’” she revealed, adding that Bill “also didn’t really want to be involved, but he did it for me.”

The Real Housewives of Rhode Island airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo and streams the next day on Peacock.