The moment Bravo fans have all been waiting for ever since Paige DeSorbo announced her breakup with Craig Conover is finally here. At the end of the Southern Charm Season 10 finale, which aired on Bravo tonight, Conover sits down with co-stars Austen Kroll and Shep Rose after DeSorbo made their split public knowledge on a December episode of her Giggly Squad podcast.
Like much of the Bravo fandom, Kroll and Rose seem surprised that DeSorbo would actually pull the plug on their three-year-long relationship.
“I think that there were cracks but I think that Craig was like, ‘Not enough to terminate a relationship,’” Kroll says, while Rose adds, “I just feel bad for the guy. Because it doesn’t sound like he was driving this bus.”
Conover confirms Rose’s suspicions when he finally shows up to the gossip circle, telling the duo some of what we already know from his interviews following the breakup — that they had a “great” Thanksgiving weekend at DeSorbo’s parents’ house, but “a couple of weeks later” she called Conover up and ended things.
“I was like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’” Conover recalls. “It was really calm. She was like, ‘I need to find myself.’ And she was like, ‘I have to take control of my life again. And we need to break up.’”
According to Conover, he wanted to tell Rose and Kroll about the breakup sooner but he didn’t want to risk the news getting out to the public yet.
“When it happened, the only people that I wanted to tell were you guys — and you specifically because we were crossing paths,” he tells Kroll. “But the truth is, like, I couldn’t let it get out yet. It was a bummer because I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can tell Austen and him not say something.’”
Conover confirms that he was waiting for DeSorbo to make the announcement, telling his friends, “I wasn’t gonna fucking say anything because I didn’t want it to be real,” which would explain why he continued his Southern Charm press tour as though they were still together.
The Sewing Down South star also revealed that he flew to New York before summer 2024 and “designed” an engagement ring for DeSorbo, who had allegedly “asked” him to buy her one.
“Then she was like, ‘Actually, hold off,’” Conover says. “Looking back, maybe that was her starting to panic or freak out.”
Conover, who had offered to move to New York and raise kids in Manhattan with DeSorbo, then wonders why she would want to throw away something that was seemingly so great.
“I just think it’s so rare for a love to come around,” he says. “We were best friends, we loved each other, we had a great sex life. We just checked so many boxes that you’re like, ‘How are we giving this up?’ It’s weird to mourn someone that’s still alive.”
Southern Charm Season 10 is currently streaming on Peacock.
