Sutton Stracke’s ex-husband, Christian Stracke, threw a spanner in the works when he moved across the pond and changed their co-parenting schedule.
“He moved in June [2023], and it’s been difficult,” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star said recently. “We co-parent very well together, but it’s hard to co-parent with someone that’s in England and I’m in California.”
While Sutton’s two older children attend college out of state, her youngest son is still in high school. “I have my son with me all the time,” she adds. “Every time I turn around, he’s there … I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s James.’ And meanwhile, [this is] a very big part of my life where I’m busy and working.”
Mom and son are close amid Sutton and Christian’s co-parenting
Married from 2000 until 2016, Sutton and her ex share three children: daughter Porter, 21, and sons Philip, 20, and James, 17. For years, she and Christian rotated weeks with their children, but since he moved to London, that schedule no longer works.
“I was used to week-on, week-off, week-on, week-off,” the Beverly Hills socialite told Us Weekly. “That’s how I developed my schedule, [but] I can’t do that anymore. This month of January has been really busy with work, and I had to tell [James], ‘Look, January is going to be crazy, and then it’s going to calm down.’ He understands that we have to work together, the two of us.”
Managing day to day life with just the two of them at home has made them a team. As a result, Sutton and James have “gotten really close.”
“Closer than you would think a mother and a teenage boy would get,” she laughed. “I always call us the ‘odd couple.’ I make dinner, we eat, we watch our show [and] we talk. We hang out together … In a way, it’s this very strange blessing that Christian gave me, because I get James, my son, with me all the time. So thank you, Christian.”
Even though having James full time “is not easy,” it works for now. “It’s a blessing,” she gushed. I hope appreciates this time with him, because soon he’ll be off to college and she’ll be an empty-nester.
Single mom besties
Sutton currently balances parenting James with running her boutique SUTTON and filming RHOBH. She’s especially close with cast members Erika Jayne and Garcelle Beauvais, as they’re all divorced single moms and share a similar sense of humor.
“We had a night where just Erika, Garcelle, and I had the best time,” Sutton shared. “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.’”
“They make fun of me, which is fine,” she continued. “But we like to talk about all kinds of different topics, and [we’re] really smart businesswomen. So [we make] a really good trio.”
Move over Tres Amigas. There’s a new threesome in town.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF SUTTON AS A SINGLE MOM? DO YOU ADMIRE HER CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH HER SON?
