Heather Dubrow and Terry Dubrow’s four children have often appeared on Real Housewives of Orange County while their mother was filming. The couple, who are devoted parents, present a happy, calm, and accepting home (though they’ve recently sold their dream mansion) for twins Nick Dubrow and Max Dubrow, 19, Kat Dubrow, 16, and Ace Dubrow, 12. So it’s no surprise that Heather would update fans on significant news in her family, the good, the bad, and the untrue.
The RHOC star took to social media earlier this month to announce her youngest child has come out as transgender. Heather’s son was assigned female at birth, but now identifies as male and changed their name to Ace.
People reported that Heather took advantage of International Sons Day to make the announcement. She captioned a beach-side photo with “Ace” written in the sand, “We love you, our youngest son, Ace [heart emoji].”
“Our job as parents is to give our kids a safe and supportive environment so they can grow up as healthy, happy, confident, independent humans. Since Ace is a 12-year-old child, with a long life ahead of him – we will let him tell his own story someday if he chooses to do so,” Heather added. “All we can say is Ace, we love you so much and we are proud to be your parents. Your brother and sisters love and support you too.”
Around this time last year, Heather’s eldest daughter Max announced herself as bisexual, while her younger daughter Kat came out as lesbian. “We’ve got four kids, they are different genders, different sexualities, and all at interesting places in their lives, figuring out who they are and where they belong as humans,” Heather explained of her brood.
For his part, Terry described Ace as having “always been incredibly strong-willed” and a “very complex, layered person.” As are most pre-teens, Terry said Ace is “going through a lot of self-exploration right now.” Heather added that her son “is a very cool kid.”
Heather described Ace’s transformative journey and suggested that clothing need not suggest gender identity. “Everyone always looked at [Ace] because [Ace] dresses ‘like a boy’, which, I hate those kinds of labels. It’s clothing. Clothing should just be clothing at this point,” she said.
Referencing the American actor to make her point, Heather added, “Billy Porter wears a gorgeous gown down the runway. He looks phenomenal. What does it matter what we’re wearing?”
Both Terry and Heather are eager to use reality TV as a platform to advocate for gender identity in society, especially in the youth of today. The former actress even admitted that was a major factor in her return to RHOC.
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“I felt like our purpose is to keep those conversations going in other families,” she explained. Terry said, “Coming out with your sexuality is something that broadly affects a lot of different people. We just want people to realize it should be part of normal conversations.”
At the time Kat came out, she said the home environment Heather and Terry created made her feel safe to be herself. “She’s asked me trillions of questions that really show she cares,” Kat said. “She’s asked me about my pronouns. It’s really easy to talk to her. It’s not like I have to build up courage if I have something to tell her.”
TELL US- WHAT ADVICE OR WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT WOULD YOU GIVE THE FAMILY? DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF THE DUBROWS ON RHOC?
[Photo Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo]
