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Credit: Bravo

Season 19 of The Real Housewives of Orange County recently premiered. Of course, Emily Simpson is back, and she’s opening up on the show about her son’s health challenges. Now, she has some good news to share, as he seems to be doing better than he was when the season was filmed.

Emily, 49, has been married to Shane Simpson, 50, for over 15 years. The two share twin boys, Luke and Keller, as well as a daughter, Annabelle. She has been on the show in an official capacity since 2018. 

Emily recently sat down for an interview with E! News, where she provided an update on Luke’s health. She said, “Luke is doing much better than when we were filming. That was a huge stress for him, and also he’s not in school, which was another big stress for him.”

Previously, she shared that he had an ARFID diagnosis. However, he also gets treatment for behavioral issues that impact his relationship with food. According to Emily, “He has some ADHD and OCD. He has a very severe separation anxiety when it comes to me, and we’ve worked really hard to alleviate that. He’s much more comfortable with me going, leaving, and coming home now.”

She also said that Luke “only eats three to four different things,” and she stated that she and Shane have learned that pressuring him to eat more foods isn’t the answer. 

She went on, “Before I understood the disorder and what was actually happening in his brain, we would get frustrated with him that he wouldn’t try different foods. I made a lot of mistakes along the way. Now we know that he has safe foods, and we always have those in the house. We don’t give him any grief about eating those safe foods that he’s comfortable with, and we try to introduce, every once in a while, something new.”

Emily has also discussed how they believe some of Luke’s health challenges could be linked to autism, which he has not been diagnosed with. She explained, “We sent him to a specialist and we try to get as many answers as we can in regards to that. He does a lot of testing. There are many more conversations.”

She also opened up about how sharing Luke’s story has helped other parents. According to Emily, “I’ve had so many moms say that their child is going through the exact same thing, and they had no idea what it was. They didn’t know that there was a name that they could associate with it. I’ve had so many moms say thank you for bringing awareness to it, and now I have a starting point now to help my child.”

In advising other parents, the RHOC star said, “If something seems off or doesn’t feel right, find a good therapist and talk to them. There’s a wealth of information out there now. Moms aren’t wrong. If you feel it in your gut, then you’re probably not wrong.”

The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Thursday nights.