Southern Charm’s Kathryn Dennis broke her silence regarding the allegations of sexual assault against her costar and the father of her two children, Thomas Ravenel.
“Well, I’m waiting until the investigation is complete before I comment on anything. Right now my kids are my main focus.” Dennis, 26, said after Andy Cohen asked her on the Monday, May 21, episode of Watch What Happens Live if she had “anything to say” regarding the allegations.
Dennis and Ravenel, who dated on and off for the first four seasons of the Bravo series, share daughter Kensie, 4, and son Saint, 2. Southern Charm’s Craig Conover also responded to Cohen’s question about the allegations on Monday’s episode.
“All I know is what I’ve seen in the media, it wouldn’t be right for me to say anything at this point. I’m kind of just — I mean, I’m where everyone else is,” Conover, 29, explained.
Allegations against Ravenel first surfaced on May 3 when a real estate agent named Ashley Perkins alleged the 55-year-old reality star assaulted her mother, Debbie Holloway Perkins, in December 2015 after they matched on Tinder two months earlier.
“My mom says, he goes into a trance, and shoves her on the nanny’s bed. He is pulling her pants down, he digitally penetrates my mom in her vagina and butt with his fingers, and my mom is screaming at him to get off of her, and no,” Ashley alleged to Us on May 4. “He is holding her wrists above her head, which explains the injuries she suffered, and the bruising. My mom screams at him, ‘You are a rapist.’”
Ravenel’s lawyer denied Ashley’s claims on May 3 in statement to Us Weekly: “My client enjoys a certain degree of fame and unfortunately has become — unfairly — a target for an individual who has, in my opinion, dubious motivations.”
A second woman reported Ravenel to Charleston police on May 7 for an alleged incident from January 2015. Ravenel and Dennis’ former nanny, referred to as “Nanny Dawn” on Southern Charm, later claimed to People that she was the second alleged victim who spoke to officers about Ravenel, which launched an investigation by South Carolina police. According to the investigation report previously obtained by Us Weekly, the allegations listed in the report included a “sex offense” and “forcible rape.”
The network announced on May 4 that Haymaker, the production company for Southern Charm, is investigating the claims against Ravenel.
“Haymaker, the production company for Southern Charm, and Bravo take allegations like these very seriously,” Bravo said in a statement to Us Weekly. “Haymaker is conducting an investigation, and once all the information is gathered and carefully reviewed, appropriate action will be taken.”
