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Stronger together. Despite their struggles, The Real Housewives of Orange County alums Gretchen Rossi and Slade Smiley have maintained their happiness over the years.
The pair met while filming the fifth season of the Bravo series in 2009 and got engaged four years later. While the couple have not tied the knot yet, they did go on to start their family. Smiley, for his part, was already the father of two sons, Gavin and Grayson, from previous relationships. After struggling to conceive naturally, Rossi opted to give IVF a try.
“It was a very, very difficult process for me. A lot harder than I had anticipated,” the former real estate agent exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2018. “The first time that we did it, we actually had 14 embryos that six hours before we were going to implant them, or one of them in me, we lost all of them.”
In December 2018, Rossi on an episode of The Doctors that she and the entrepreneur were expecting their first child together.
“These symptoms, I gotta tell you,” Rossi quipped at the time. “Man, like I swear, they lie to you about morning sickness. It’s all day sickness.”
The duo welcomed their daughter, Skylar Gray, in July 2019. Since their little one’s arrival, the handbag designer has documented her daughter’s most precious moments on social media.
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“Ok so I might be a little biased😜 but I think she is the cutest thing ever ❤️,” Rossi captioned a video of her newborn one month after giving birth.
Two years after welcoming Skylar, the TV personality opened up to Us about why she and the former child actor have yet to walk down the aisle.
“We got very preoccupied trying to have a baby, obviously, and that’s a very expensive process going through IVF for that many years,” she said in April 2021. “It’s interesting because I would love to be married to Slade. I actually call him my husband.”
Tragedy struck the family in February 2023 when Smiley’s son Grayson died at the age of 22. Grayson was diagnosed with brain cancer when he was six years old. Rossi posted a touching tribute for the California native’s late son.
“Our rational minds told us this day might come, but our hearts always held onto the hope that this day would not come to fruition 💔,” the former Bravo star penned a slideshow of images of Smiley and his son over the years. “We are beyond devastated and heartbroken over the loss of Gray. Grayson Arroyo-Smiley was such a special human being.”
Keep scrolling to see Rossi and Smiley’s best family moments:
