Who is ‘The Real Housewives of Rhode Island’ star Kelsey Swanson’s secret boyfriend she refuses to name?
The Real Housewives of Rhode Island has finally premiered on Bravo, and these women are already giving us so much and more. At the center of it all, however, is Kelsey Swanson, whose unconventional relationship with a much-older man is the talk of the town.
Swanson, who is turning 30 in the show, shares that she met her unnamed boyfriend on a boat when she was 19 years old. These days, she describes herself as a “lady of leisure” who lives in said boyfriend’s 16,000 square foot home, which consists of four kitchens and 79 TVs. While she didn’t share his identity, Swanson said her boyfriend is from “one of the most prominent families” in Rhode Island, and that he’s the one who pushed her to become Miss Rhode Island 2017.
Their relationship is rather unorthodox. According to Swanson, when her boyfriend is living in Miami the first part of the year, he has a different girlfriend in Florida. Now that Swanson is approaching 30 and looking for more of a committed relationship, she’s wondering if this arrangement is still the best thing for her.
So, who is this man Swanson has been seeing for the last decade? The Real Housewives of Rhode Island has not named him, but we have a guess or two. Keep reading.
Who is Kelsey Swanson’s boyfriend?
The short answer? We don’t know. Swanson doesn’t reveal her boyfriend’s name in the show, and his face is blurred out of any photos. However, we were able to do some digging, and here’s what we found. Per Distractify, Instagram gossip page Deux Moi claimed Swanson was “in a long-term open relationship with a very well-known judge’s son,” whose father was “known for his theatrics in the courtroom and loved being filmed for his own show.” A Rhode Island lifestyle page also seemed to corroborate this information.
After a quick Google search, we found that Judge Frank Caprio—who died in August 2025 at the age of 88—was a prominent judge in Rhode Island who starred in Caught in Providence. The show, which ran from 2018 to 2020, filmed real people as they stood before Judge Caprio in the Providence Municipal Court and pled their real-life case. Side note, Swanson appeared on a 2019 episode of Caught in Providence to assist the judge in a case.
Judge Caprio does have four sons, but, thanks to some comments on the aforementioned post, we think we’ve narrowed things down to David Caprio, a 58-year-old businessman and politician who served as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1999 to 2010. David has a good-sized Instagram following (about 23.7K followers at the time of this writing), some of which include … wait for it … The Real Housewives of Rhode Island stars. Not only are he and Swanson following each other, but Jo-Ellen Tiberi and Liz McGraw also follow him. If you remember, Tiberi and Swanson have known each other for over two decades, so it would make sense for him to follow her back. Plus, McGraw shared in the show that she grew up with Swanson’s boyfriend, presumably David, who is around the same age as her.
Still not convinced? Well, David is also a real estate investor with interests in numerous places, including Florida, and before Judge Caprio passed away last year, he was being treated at the Miami Cancer Institute. David’s profile picture is also a photo of him and his dad in Miami. MIAMI?! OTHER GIRLFRIEND?! Seems like we might’ve found our guy.
Bravo was unable to comment on his identity when DECIDER reached out for confirmation. Therefore, until there’s some solid confirmation from either party, we suggest taking this evidence with a grain of salt.
Photo: Bravo
How to watch The Real Housewives of Rhode Island:
Those looking to watch The Real Housewives of Rhode Island will need access to Bravo and/or Peacock. If you have a cable subscription, you can access the network on the BravoTV website, or stream the show live on platforms like Fubo, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV and Sling TV when it airs on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT. New episodes also become available the next day on Peacock.
Peacock currently offers two subscription types: Premium with ads and Premium Plus ad-free. Peacock Premium costs $10.99/month, while Premium Plus costs $16.99/month.
You can save a bit by subscribing to one of Peacock’s annual plans, which give you 12 months for the price of 10. These cost either $109.99 with ads or $169.99 without ads.
Peacock Premium Plus is also available to subscribe to via Prime Video with a seven-day free trial that you can’t get by subscribing directly on Peacock.
