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“I have a friend,” the mother of two said, stopping short of calling her new flame a boyfriend. “We’ve only been talking for about four months.”
Ashley and Michael — who share sonsDean, 4, andDylan, 3 — were married for eight years before sheannounced their separationin April 2022, though they have yet to file for divorce.
That obviously makes her new romance a little more complicated. “I’m still learning what dating means in this world,” she admitted. “There’s a lot of terminology that I’m trying to get the feel for. But we’re having fun.”
She and her “friend,” whom she did not name, have known one another for a long time. They actually met 15 years ago, long before Ashley even knew Michael.
“I was at a Friendsgiving party and the party was about to end, and he walked through the door and I was like, ‘Holy…’ — one of those moments,” she shared. “So yeah, he asked me out. We went out the next day for dinner.”
At 49, this new man is closer in age to Ashley, 35, than 64-year-old Michael was.
He’s about nine years older than her last love interest:Summer HousealumLuke Gulbranson, from whom sheconfirmed she’d splitin January after less than three months of dating.
As Ashley and her new beau develop their relationship, the “Coffee & Love” singer is balancing that with co-parenting with Michael — which has become a hot topic onRHOPthis season.
Her Bravo costars have also grilled Ashley about why she and Michael have yet to pull the trigger on their divorce. And while Ashley still isn’t ready to formally legally sever the marriage, she tells PEOPLE that she’s getting there.
She continued, “I’m not feeling as pressured, but what my uncle said to me the other day was, emotionally, I’m never going to be free if I don’t do this. And maybe that’s true. So I’ll get there.”
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source: people.com
