'RHOP's Michael Darby Already Had Two Children Before He Married Ashley

While many couples featured on Housewives go through their marital ups and downs in front of the cameras, few have dealt with as much drama as Ashley and Michael Darby from The Real Housewives of Potomac.

After the first season of the hit Bravo show, Michael and Ashley briefly separated (they've received a lot of criticism from both fans and the other cast members over their significant age difference), but they soon reunited.

Other cast members on the show said that Michael made inappropriate innuendos to their significant others on the show. He was later accused of sexual harassment by a cameraman in 2018 during Season 4 (the claims were dropped).

Once the couple welcomed their first child, Dean, together, many hoped that there would be stability again in the marriage. 

But, during the taping of Season 5, Michael was caught in a hotel room with a woman who was not his wife. 

The two aired out their issues (once again) on the show, and they discussed altering their post-nuptial agreement. Though many fans thought that a split was inevitable, Ashley announced that she was expecting again ahead of the Season 5 reunion.

The couple have since welcomed their second son together, but Michael also has kids from a past marriage. 

In July of 2019, Michael and Ashley welcomed their first son together, Dean Michael Darby. As RHOP fans will know, Ashley lost a pregnancy before she had Dean, and she had long expressed her desire to become a mom. 

Since his birth, Dean (who is a dead ringer for Michael) has been a frequent fixture on his mom's Instagram page. He was also a scene stealer on Season 5 of RHOP.

In March of 2021, Ashley shared that she had welcomed her second son with Michael (his name has not been publicly shared yet). She chronicled some of her labor beginning on March 2, and she confirmed his arrival shortly thereafter.

During a set of Instagram Stories, Ashley thanked her fans for their well wishes, and she shared how excited she was for her sons to meet.

"Michael just left the hospital to go be with Dean and give him some loving," the reality star said. "And it's crazy how much I miss my son right now. Even though I'm so happy and so blissful with this little guy, I just want us all to be together as a family, and I know it'll happen soon. I just miss him so much ... This journey of motherhood just really keeps on getting better."

Despite having multiple serious issues during their marriage, Ashley has never denied what a great father Michael is.

After Dean was born, she spoke with People about how hands-on her husband is.

"I'm very lucky in that sense," she said about Michael's attentiveness. "I didn't have a father growing up so I never really understood how involved men are in children's lives. Maybe it’s just my lack of experience with it. But he's incredibly hands on. It's been very eye-opening for me and very comforting."

Michael certainly wasn't new to parenting when little Dean arrived, which may have been an asset for Ashley.  

As many RHOP viewers know, Ashley is Michael's second wife. He had other children with his ex-wife. 

Michael has two children from his previous marriage, a son and a daughter. He was married to his ex-wife for more than 20 years before they divorced in 2010. Not much else is known about his ex-wife, or about his older kids.  

Though his eldest son with Ashley has already appeared on Instagram and on TV, Michael's other kids are more private.  

His first son is Charlie Darby, who attended Duke University according to the Washington Post. He now appears to work in marketing for PlusOne, a computer software company in Baltimore.

As for Michael's other child, virtually nothing is publicly known.

Michael himself doesn't have any public social media profiles, and Ashley doesn't share much about her stepchildren.

Season 6 of RHOP is expected to air sometime in 2021.