The Messiest Bravo Breakups of All Time: From Stassi and Jax to Erika and Tom and Everyone on ‘Southern Charm’

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The Messiest Bravo Breakups of All Time: From Stassi and Jax to Erika and Tom and Everyone on ‘Southern Charm’

He will never emotionally fulfill you! Over the years, Bravo stars of every franchise have been subject to the messiest of breakups. If there’s one thing fans have learned when it comes to love on the network, it’s to expect the unexpected … and watch out if a vow renewal comes along. Just one month after Erika Jayne revealed in November 2020 that she split from Tom Girardi after more than 20 years of marriage, news broke that there was a lawsuit filed against them. Due to the quick succession of events, some assumed the divorce had been faked to protect their assets. Erika denied the allegations, with fans able to see the true extent of the messiness on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when the “How Many F—ks?” singer dove into the details of her split. “My divorce is not a sham,” Erika said through tears during a July 2021 episode of the show. “It’s just not. Nobody wants to be in the position I’m in right now. It is really unenviable. Being the possible target of a federal criminal investigation is, like, not cool.” She also shared that the drama had started much earlier than fans realized. “I can’t believe I’m f—king gonna say this. As much as Tom encouraged me, I think he resented me every step I took forward. Around the time of Chicago, Tom’s view of me had changed,’” the Bravolebrity said in a confessional. “He’s not an angel. People don’t know that. … I didn’t tell anybody because I didn’t think anybody would understand. Because from the outside it looks one way. I’d go to hug him he wouldn’t hug me back. It was another life happening. The outside saw a lot of support, but on the inside there was a lot of conflict.” Years earlier, in another part of Los Angeles, the cast of Vanderpump Rules went through a multitude of dramatic splits — most of which were caught on camera. Around the same time that Stassi Schroeder and Jax Taylor called it quits, their friend Kristen Doute and her beau (and Jax’s bestie) Tom Sandoval ended things as well after discovering that Kristen and Jax slept together. Much to the James Mae designer’s chagrin, the TomTom owner soon began dating Ariana Madix. Nevertheless, over the years and against all odds, the women have formed a friendship. “I really love Ariana. I, like, really like her. It’s confusing for me,” Kristen told Us Weekly exclusively in February 2018. “I feel like I’m going through something right now because we’re, like, tweeting each other now. She’s unblocked me, that’s a step in the right direction.” Scroll to see more of the messiest Bravo splits through the years: [podcast_block]

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Drew Sidora and Ralph Pittman

After filing for divorce in February 2023, the Real Housewives of Atlanta star accused her estranged husband of mental and financial abuse. She also alleged Ralph — with whom she shares two children — is a “serial cheater.”

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Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz

While the Vanderpump Rules stars insisted they would stay friends when they filed for divorce in 2022, things got messy during production on season 10 of the Bravo show when Schwartz hooked up with Raquel Leviss.

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Erika Jayne and Tom Girardi

The Broadway actress shocked fans when she announced her separation from her husband of more than 20 years in November 2020.

“After much consideration, I have decided to end my marriage to Tom Girardi,” she said in a statement at the time. “This is not a step taken lightly or easily. I have great love and respect for Tom and for our years and the lives we built together. It is my absolute wish to proceed through this process with respect and with the privacy that both Tom and I deserve. I request others give us that privacy as well.”

Unfortunately, the split got messy fast when the pair had a class action lawsuit filed against them the following month. “When I filed this divorce, I was a gold digger. This week, [I’m a conspirator]. I mean — what the f—k? Neither one of them are true,” the “Painkillr” singer said during a July 2021 RHOBH episode.

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Gina and Matt Kirschenheiter

When the New Jersey native joined The Real Housewives of Orange County in 2018, she was married to Matt. However, the couple lived apart and Matt never appeared on the show, causing fans to wonder what was really going on in their love life.

In June 2019, Gina obtained a restraining order against Matt after he allegedly attacked her at their home. The incident took place while the duo, who initially split that same year, were trying to rebuild their marriage. While the restraining order was eventually dismissed in June 2021, Gina opened up about the incident during an April 2021 court hearing.

“I thought I was going to die. I still get chills thinking about how I begged you to, ‘Stop. Think about the kids.’ And you responded by saying, ‘Your mom is going to die tonight,’” she recalled at the time. “It’s taken me a lot of time, self-care and therapy to work through what happened that night, but I have managed to forgive you for most of it. I accept that I will always have this painful memory from that night. I’ve come to terms with that.”

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Phaedra Parks and Apollo Nida

The Real Housewives of Atlanta star filed for divorce from her husband of five years in October 2014. Earlier that year, Apollo pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Around the time of his sentencing, the businessman revealed that he didn’t think his marriage would survive his time in prison.

“I doubt it,” he said on Atlanta’s B100 radio station that July. “I mean, my wife didn’t even f—king show up for my sentencing. I’m still salty about that.”

The split wasn’t easy either, with the divorce taking almost three years to be finalized.

“He kept appealing the divorce and finally it was granted. Apollo and I started dating in high school and now I’m in my early 40s, so it was time to go,” Phaedra told Us exclusively in November 2017. “That’s almost a lifetime. Thank God it’s over, but thank God it happened because we have two beautiful kids.”

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Naomie Olindo and Craig Conover

The Southern Charm stars broke up in September 2017 after three years together. Their split — which was prefaced with a ton of fighting because Craig didn’t have a job — wasn’t easy on anyone (especially when they watched it back).

“The only hard part for me was … We were inseparable,” Craig told Us in May 2018. “I just, I wish that someone would have cheated or done something like that because it really, especially when I hear and see these clips from the show when she’s like, ‘Well, I guess I’m just not over Craig,’ … It just seems like she was convinced we shouldn’t be together and ended it.”

Later, Naomie found herself in another messy split when her boyfriend of three years, Metul Shah, allegedly cheated on her in July 2021.

“This is incredibly embarrassing and I feel so lost, I just ask that you please stop sending/saying hateful things to Metul,” she wrote in an Instagram Story at the time before promptly deleting it. “I have self respect and I’ll not be getting back together with him, but he is also in a terrible place dealing with the consequences of his actions.”

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Kristen Doute and Tom Sandoval

After six years of dating, the duo called it quits at the end of season 2 of Vanderpump Rules. The split came after Kristen cheated on Tom with his friend Jax — but the bartender (who was caught texting a bottle service waitress) wasn’t completely in the clear when it came to drama. Soon after his breakup, Tom began dating another costar, Ariana, causing Kristen to claim that their relationship had started while she was still with her former beau.

“I made a choice to let everything go, because whether or not I thought those rumors about an illicit rendezvous or two behind my back had been true or not, it didn’t matter anymore,” Kristen wrote in her book, He’s Making You Crazy. “A girl can’t actually steal someone’s boyfriend. He made a free-willed choice to leave me, and a free-willed choice to be with her."

Regardless of his ex’s forgiveness, Tom wasn’t exactly pleased with his portrayal in the memoir.

“I don’t even know where to begin with that book. I think she was just trying to sell copies,” he said during a November 2020 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “I read [the part about our relationship]. It was just a lot of inconsistencies. First and foremost being our computer was in our living room and we always had a roommate. I don’t think I remember Kristen ever owning lingerie either.”

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Meghan King and Jim Edmonds

Shortly after marrying the baseball player, Meghan joined the cast of The Real Housewives of Orange County. While fans watched them go through uncomfortable conversations and fertility issues on the show, the drama was nothing compared to what awaited them after leaving reality TV.

In June 2019, Jim was accused of sending a video of himself masturbating to another woman on the same day that King gave birth to their twins, Hayes and Hart. While Edmonds denied the allegations exclusively to Us, the trouble continued four months later when Us revealed that the pair had split after Meghan accused her husband of “having an affair” with their 22-year-old nanny. He once again denied the allegations. The exes, who also share daughter Aspen, finalized their divorce in May 2021.

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Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy

While their romance started off sweet with a spinoff show titled Bethenny Ever After, things turned sour for the Real Housewives of New York City star when the couple split in 2012 after three years of marriage.

“The divorce is taking a toll on her,” a source close to the Skinnygirl founder told Us in June 2013. “She just wants what’s best for her daughter. She wants this divorce to be over and done with, but it’s being drawn out by Jason. All Bethenny wants to do is move on.”

Nevertheless, the proceedings — which mainly focused on the pair’s daughter, Bryn — continued. The divorce wasn’t finalized until January 2021.

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Malia White and Adam Glick

When Malia arrived on the Below Deck Mediterranean ship during season 2, it was quickly revealed that two men were infatuated with her. And she simply couldn't choose!

Soon, fans discovered that the deckhand and chef Adam had known each other prior to the show and decided to keep their relationship a secret from their costars — which became a problem when she set her sights on Wes Walton.

“She played me like a f—king flute,” Adam said at one point.

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Stassi Schroeder and Jax Taylor

Once upon a time, Vanderpump Rules began with a relationship between SUR bartender Jax and server Stassi.

After the former sweater designer cheated on the Next Level Basic author with a woman from Las Vegas (and later her BFF Kristen while trying to win the Louisiana native’s heart back), they decided to call it quits — but that didn’t stop their working relationship from remaining messy. Stassi moved on with coworker Frank while Jax tried (to no avail) to get her back.

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Shannon and David Beador

The RHOC couple were married for 17 years before their September 2017 divorce. Following their tumultuous split, more drama unfolded when David’s new wife, Lesley Beador, alleged that Shannon didn’t send her a baby gift after she welcomed her and David’s first child. Later, Lesley took back the claim.

After Shannon told Jeff Lewis that she’d indeed sent a present, David allegedly sent the podcaster some angry texts — which he decided to read aloud during a March 2021 episode of his SiriusXM show.

“Jeff, nice podcast. You and Shannon are so f–king boring. All you can do is talk about me and my wife. You f–king loser. Glad to see karma bit you in the ass a couple of times now, what a chump you are,” Jeff claimed the message read. 

“I said, ‘Congrats on the new baby, David. I hope you’re enjoying Shannon’s gift.’ And then I put a little gift emoji,” he added.

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Austen Kroll and Madison LeCroy

The Southern Charm stars’ on-again, off-again relationship was first broadcast during the reality show’s sixth season. Over the years, the pair underwent plenty of drama — including an unconfirmed infidelity on Kroll’s part — before Us confirmed their split in December 2020.

“I definitely think that quarantine was either gonna make it or break [our] relationship, and unfortunately, we did not come out stronger,” Madison told Us at the time. “We weren’t even in quarantine together. We did for a short period of time, and then I think we both realized that maybe there was just too many things that had happened in the past for us to actually play house for 14 days or whatever it was.”

Add Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari to the mix, and fans had themselves some classic reality TV drama. Several months after announcing their split after 10 years together, Kristin made headlines for hanging out with Austen and his friends in Charleston. Madison, meanwhile, turned heads when she hinted at spending some time with Jay.

“I’m not kissing and telling,” she quipped during a January 2021 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. 

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Kathryn Dennis and Thomas Ravenel

What’s going on in Charleston?  Thomas and Kathryn’s relationship — and many public fights — were documented during the first four seasons of Southern Charm. The pair, who welcomed two children while on the show, split in 2016. At the time, he accused his ex of abusing drugs and was granted custody of the kids.

But the story wasn’t over yet. After a court-appointed doctor suggested the former couple coparent in 2017, they decided on 50/50 custody. One year later, Kathryn sought sole custody of their son and daughter. While they stuck with a joint arrangement, the mother of two lost privileges once again in March 2021 and was granted supervised visitation on weekends.

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Luann de Lesseps and Tom D'Agostino

After only seven months of marriage, the Real Housewives of New York City star and the businessman announced in August 2017 that they were calling it quits. Prior to their split, the duo’s tumultuous relationship was an ongoing story line on the Bravo reality series when Dorinda Medley, Bethenny and Carole Radziwill told the former countess about infidelity rumors on her then-fiancé’s part. The “Elegance Is Learned” singer also forgave D'Agostino after he was spotted kissing another woman prior to their wedding.

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Tamra Judge and Simon Barney

Remember the limo ride from hell? During a very memorable season 5 RHOC scene, the CUT Fitness owner told her husband that he was a “nasty, vile person” who can “go f—k“ himself during a ride to a party. Soon after, Simon filed for divorce in January 2010.

While the split was finalized quickly in 2011, family drama continued when the pair’s eldest daughter, Sidney, found herself in an estranged relationship with her mother.

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Luke Gulbranson and Hannah Berner

While they never officially dated, the Summer House stars' relationship ups and downs were one for the books. After the "Berning in Hell" podcast host entered their Hamptons abode in summer 2020, she discovered that Luke — who she'd been looking forward to seeing — had brought another woman, Ciara Miller, into their quarantine group. Hannah subsequently got engaged to Des Bishop, causing her fellow cast members to wonder if there’d been any overlap in her relationships.