Venita Aspen has found a keeper in her new boyfriend, Manny.
“In my heart, I feel like [he’s] my forever person,” Venita, 29, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the Southern Charm season 9 premiere. “So, I’m going to move with that. Yes, this is my forever person.”
While fans will remember that Venita was single throughout the majority of season 8, this new season will introduce her new romance.
“He’s still God’s gift to me in the earth. I love Manny,” she gushed to Us of the musician. “He’s so great. He’s such a great partner. So I’m really excited for people to see not only him, but me in a relationship. We haven’t seen that before [on the show], so I’m very excited for it.”
While Venita and Manny recently started dating, they initially connected several years prior.
“We met five years ago. He actually slid into my Instagram DMs and it was so funny,” she told Us. “And we started just kind of being Instagram friends. He invited me to see one of his shows … and we’ve just been kind of tight ever since. And then within the last year, he asked me to be his girlfriend.”
While discussing their meet-cute, Venita couldn’t help but completely light up. “I pray that I never don’t become giddy when I talk about him,” she quipped.
Venita further teased that Manny easily fit into the Southern Charm squad when filming kicked off. “He already knew Shep [Rose] because the first venue that he ever played at was the Commodore, and Shep is a part owner of the Commodore,” Venita explained to Us of the vintage jazz club in Charleston. “[He] and Shep go way back, so it was very easy for him to just walk and be like, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ He can work a room better than me!”
Venita is also hoping that she and Manny can go on double dates with her costar Madison LeCroy and her husband, Brett Randle, despite a rocky history between the two women.
“[We] haven’t done that yet, [but] I really want us to do that because it’d be great ‘cause I know Manny and Brett would get along so well,” Venita told Us. “So, fingers crossed after everything airs and we can have breathing time again, we can have our double date!”
Madison, 32, got married in November 2022, and Venita can clearly see that Brett “really brings out the best in her” and definitely checks all of her boxes. Southern Charm season 9 will also feature Brett’s debut on the Bravo hit.
“We didn’t really film with him a lot as a group. There’s a couple parties and stuff that you’ll see him at, but it was a lot of just Madison and Brett filming together,” Venita said of the newlyweds. “So we didn’t get to see him as much, but we got to see him, so we’ll take it.”
As for her status with Madison, Venita told Us that it was a “mutual call” to bury the hatchet. “When we first started this season, I think we both were kind of like, ‘OK what’s going to happen? Are we going to fight this season [or] are we going to be friends?’ And we just decided like, ‘OK, we got to hash this [out]. We’re going to be friends. The season’s going to be great. We’re going to have a great time,’” she said. “It’s been good. It’s been a learning curve because it’s hard to not only make friends as an adult but to keep them going.”
Venita added that their relationship is “almost” back to where it was pre-feud.
Southern Charm season 9 premieres on Bravo on Thursday, September 14, at 9 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
