Tragedy hit Charleston on Thursday’s Southern Charm.
The episode began with Madison LeCroy stopping by Craig Conover and Paige DeSorbo’s place to inform them that Shep Rose’s ex Taylor Ann Green sent Whitney Sudler-Smith a naked photo.
“Oh, yeah, I saw it,” Craig, 34, said, adding to Paige, 30, “Yeah, I forgot to tell you this.”
In the wake of learning about Taylor, 28, and Austen’s kiss, Craig wondered, “What is it with her and all of Shep’s friends? I think she’s just really lost.”
Austen, 36, went to visit his parents and told them about what happened with Taylor and Olivia Flowers. “Taylor was distraught over Shep and we were just like, really there for each other,” Austen explained. “We were hanging out a lot.”
Austen’s mom asked whether he and Taylor slept together, which Austen claimed he did not. “But you know, we did kiss,” Austen said.
“Does this seem to be a pattern?” Austen’s dad asked.
Austen owned up to having a pattern of sabotaging relationships, hence why he started seeing a therapist.
ANOTHER FAMILY REUNION
Over at Patricia Altschul’s house, Whitney, 55, helped his 82-year-old mom FaceTime her former butler Michael, who went to live in an assisted living home in Florida after having a stroke.
“I miss him every day,” Patricia, 82, said in an on-camera interview. “He really is like a member of the family.”
Patricia asked Michael to show her how to make a martini, and he obliged.
“It’s really an art form to do everything that Michael did,” Patricia told the cameras.
Michael pointed out that two years had passed since his medial “incident,” and Patricia wiped away tears after they hung up.
AN UNEXPECTED GOODBYE
Venita Aspen and Leva Bonaparte met for dinner and after a while, they don’t think that Olivia, 31, or Taylor will show. When Leva got ahold of Taylor, she informed Leva, 44, that she heard Olivia’s brother Connor might have died.
“Wait, what? No!” Venita, 30, said.
Venita and Leva quickly abandoned their dinner plans after ordering a round of margaritas.
Taylor called Austen to talk about the news.
“I think she was just in shock, and she just kept saying, ‘It feels like a nightmare,’” Taylor said to Austen.
In an on-camera interview, Austen discussed how he could unfortunately relate to Olivia because his older sister Kyle died when he was 7.
“I want to go see her, but I don’t know what to do,” Austen said to Taylor.
Taylor recommended reaching out to her, but Austen said he didn’t want to make things worse. When he spoke to his therapist about the situation later on, she recommended being “present for Olivia as friends as much as she allows that.”
“Maybe that’s like, my purpose in all this is to show her like, what time can do, how to move on,” Austen said to his therapist.
Shep, 43, decided to offer up his house to Olivia’s friends and family coming into town since he lived across the street and Venita and Leva organized a low-key get-together for Olivia at Venita’s house.
“I haven’t been able to go in his room, whereas my mom just wants to stay in,” Olivia told Leva and Venita. “So it’s just like, we’re all just on different, really different pages. He is just so thoughtful and sweet and kind that’s what everyone’s been saying about him. I hope he knew how loved he was. I just hope he knew that.”
Leva assured Olivia, “He knows everything right now.”
In an on-camera interview, Oliva remembered one of her final conversations with Connor before he died at age 32. “One of the last things he said to me was like, ‘You’re doing everything right. You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be and I hope I’m, you know, I hope you can look at me and be proud of me like I’m proud of you,’” she said.
Taylor showed up and Olivia felt the love, telling her friends, “I’m really, really appreciative of ya’ll.”
Southern Charm airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
