Southern Charm’s Craig Conover is reflecting on navigating his and Paige DeSorbo’s split in the public eye.
“I guess all I can say is that it was an interesting study in, like, human behavior and social science,” Craig, 37, said on the Monday, August 3, episode of the “Good Guys” podcast. “I think what people wanted to connect with more — you know, you saw a lot of people relating to one of the two of us and then through that, trying to place their own experiences and almost get validation through that, I saw, I think.”
He continued, “Like, ‘If Craig handled it this way, maybe I wasn’t so crazy,’ you know? Or, ‘If she handled it a certain way.’ There was definitely this attachment that we dealt with, I would say.”
Craig and Paige, 33, were together from 2021 to 2024. Craig has since been linked to Natalie Buffett while the Summer House alum has moved on with sports marketing executive Joe D’Amelio.
“The breakup itself is really — I like to talk about it in a positive way because it was such a crazy, awesome chapter, where I think it was a beautiful illustration of people leveling up,” he explained. “For three years, me and the person that I was dating achieved more in our own lives than we ever have.”
He continued, “It got me to this level, where I was sitting there talking to you guys, and I was like, ‘Oh, I completely changed my relationship with alcohol.’ Like, if I have a spritz with you tonight it’s because we’re celebrating or it’s for fun. I’m not here just drinking … you’re not living to drink anymore. You’re just celebrating that.”
Craig, who said he recently finished filming 12 weeks of reality TV, shared that his career subsequently “took off” and now he gets the opportunity to appear in movies.
“Which, I don’t know if that would have ever happened,” he admitted. “It all happens for a reason. I think what was weird about having a public breakup is people try to capitalize off of that. So I think that was the most unexpected thing, is we had a lot of people in our lives make it about them.”
He continued, “Which you now see on our network a lot. Anytime there’s a scandal or something, ‘Oh man, there’s some value to be had by jumping in.’”
