‘Real Housewives of Orange County’ Couple Separates

Real Housewives of Orange County‘s Shannon Beador and her husband David are calling it quits.

The 53-year-old Bravo star and her husband have been married for 17 years and share three daughters together: Sophie, 15, and twins Stella and Adeline, 12. Beador and David split a little over a month ago, but are just now going public with the news.

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“It’s heartbreaking for me and my daughters that this is the road that had to be taken but it’s the only way,” Beador told PEOPLE.

“I felt alone in my marriage. You can do what you can to keep your family together, but you have to have willing parties. You need two people to make a marriage work, and that just wasn’t happening in our relationship,” she said.

The ups and downs of their relationship had been well-documented through the course of her four seasons on RHOC. Back in Season 10, Beador revealed that David had been unfaithful to her. She learned about the affair only days before filming began.

The couple sought the help of therapy and open dialogue with their family to attempt and repair their marriage. Beador and David even had a vow renewal ceremony at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe where they originally tied the knot.

“This is not the path that I thought that I would be taking,” Beador said. “To come from the highest of the highs last year to go to such a low so quickly? At the beginning when it starts to crumble, you think, ‘This is just a phase. It’ll get better.’ But it never did.”

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Shannon opened up about how she believes she was “in denial” about the state of her marriage in the past few years.

“As a mother, I want to be a good role model for my daughters,” Beador said. “Three years ago I was proud of what I showed them, because I fought for keeping my family together after infidelity. As the last year went by, it’s been extremely difficult and painful to watch the show, because clearly, I was in denial about what was going on in my marriage.

“I was taking things out on other people instead of at home. … As a mother you keep thinking about your daughters and you have to say, ‘This is an unhealthy environment.’ Not only is it unhealthy for me, but it’s unhealthy for my girls, too. They deserve a happy and joyful home, and I am providing that for them now,” she continued.

In the wake of their split, Beador says that her daughters remain the top priority.

“We are doing our best to be amicable for our children,” Shannon said, adding that her daughters are taking the news as best as they can. “That’s our primary concern, to act in the best interest of our daughters.”

The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.