Determined to get the story right. Craig Conover doesn’t shy away from tackling his former relationship with Naomie Olindo in his new book — and she’s OK with that!
“I’m really excited. I was shocked in the beginning to find out how long of a process it is. We started about a year and a half to two years ago and now people are finally getting to see and read the stories,” the 33-year-old Pillow Talk author exclusively told Us Weekly. “Fortunately, we interviewed Naomie for the book, so she had a lot of input and was very much involved.”
Conover then joked that his costars, including Shep Rose and Austen Kroll, can “deal with whatever stories I told” about them in the memoir, which will be released on Tuesday, March 29.
“I’m extremely honest in it and open and vulnerable and that was the whole goal — it was never to be, like, ‘This is what really happened’ book. It was just gonna be, ‘This is what also happened.’ And I wanted to fill in the gaps. We only film for a couple months a year, so I wanted to tell a fuller story,” the lawyer told Us of writing about the Bravo series. “Shep, he’ll be fine. He might disagree on some of my analysis of our relationship. … I love telling the story of the casting process because the networks really never let that happen before. As much as a non-Southern Charm book that it is — it’s a balanced book where you do get to see a ton of behind-the-scenes stuff that happened, which I’m really happy the network was OK with because everyone always wonders how we ended up on the show and how our friendships grew and where they were sprouted. So I think people love reading that. Who knows what [producer and costar] Whitney [Sudler-Smith] will think, but I hope they all like it.”
Olindo, specifically, has been “super positive,” according to Conover. (Fans watched the fallout of their breakup on the 2018 season of Southern Charm after they ended their two-year relationship between seasons 4 and 5.)
“I don’t think she’s read it yet,” he noted, adding that they reconnected following her split from Metul Shah. “She texted me some really nice messages and we had some nice talks, and I was a proponent of her coming back [to Southern Charm]. I think she enjoyed coming back. I think the viewers will like to see her and it should be a positive journey for most people. … You’ll get to see a lot of it on Southern Charm, but it was conversations that were long overdue, and I wish her the best. There’s no negativity there.”
The French native also filmed scenes with Conover’s current girlfriend, Summer House’s Paige DeSorbo.
“Obviously, you know, hanging out with your ex isn’t normal,” he told Us. “It wasn’t too bad, but yeah, there are situations where you’re just like, ‘This is a wild situation to be in.’ [Paige and Naomie] are fine. There’s definitely a lot to look forward to in the new season … Paige was in Charleston a lot during filming, and you’ll get to see her dynamic with pretty much everyone.”
Conover also credits Olindo’s infamous diss on his passion for sewing as a reason for his success.
“She apologized for a lot and I was like, ‘Look, just like I tell people that come in the store, you know, without this chapter of my life, I wouldn’t have Sewing Down South, I wouldn’t have all this,’” he told Us. “And she was like, ‘Yes, you would Craig.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ She was like, ‘You always believed in this, and you would’ve always ended up here. I was the one that didn’t see it.’ It was nice to hear, and it was just kind of a mending of fences and closing of chapters.”
