RHOBH's Sutton Stracke Admits It's Challenging To Co-Parent With Ex-Husband Christian Stracke Who's In England

In their 16-year marriage, they had three children.

May

• Published in Interesting
• February 3, 2024

Sutton Stracke and her ex-husband, Christian Stracke, encountered a challenge in their co-parenting arrangement when he moved to London. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star explains:

We coparent very well together, but it’s hard to coparent with someone that’s in England and I’m in California, so it’s like, the time [difference] is really far.

Sutton and Christian, both 52 years old, were married from 2000 to 2016 and have three children: their daughter Porter, aged 21, and their sons Philip, aged 20, and James, aged 17. While Porter and Philip are currently attending college out of California, James is still in high school.

Sutton shared that her son, James, is constantly by her side. She has a busy schedule and work commitments.

She explained that she was accustomed to a week-on, week-off custody arrangement, which helped her structure her time, but that's no longer feasible. With January being particularly hectic work-wise, she had to communicate with James about the situation, emphasizing the need for them to collaborate and adjust together.

Consequently, Sutton and James have formed a strong bond and grown closer as a result of navigating these changes. She even jokingly admits that they're closer than a mom and her teen would get.

She would call herself and her youngest son the 'odd couple.'

I make dinner, we eat, we watch our show [and] we talk, we hang out together. And so, in a way, it’s this very strange blessing that Christian gave me [when he moved], because I get James, my son, with me all the time, so thank you, Christian.

Their current setup is not an ideal family situation. It's quite challenging, yet it's working according to the RHOBH star.

Sutton noted that she and and her two co-stars in RHOBH season 13 are alike.

Both Erika and Garcelle Beauvais are also divorced, single moms. Sutton recalls having had the best time during one night of filming.

The three of us just relaxed, and I think we all three were surprised at how much fun we had together. We kept saying, ‘We have to do this again off camera because we have a lot in common.

She then adds:

They make fun of me, which is fine, but we like to talk about all kinds of different topics and [we’re] really smart businesswomen, and so it was a really good trio.

Although Sutton has relished her time on RHOBH, her three children aren't particularly keen on watching her on reality TV.

She recalls that because of COVID and they had nothing else to watch, her children decided to watch her on TV. She thinks her daughter, in her senior year, watches it, her middle son is done watching it, and her youngest has never seen an episode.

In season 13, Sutton takes a more daring approach, as seen during the infamous dinner incident where she openly admits to using a joint. Reflecting on the moment, she mentioned engaging in conversations with her children about marijuana usage because she did so on TV.

The RHOBH star got back into the dating scene after her divorce by working with a matchmaker.

May