Watching the Southern Charm Season 9 reunion, there was a distinct feeling the cast left Shep Rose in a moment of need. The reality star was coming off a particularly difficult season during which his ex-girlfriend of two years spent the entire time defending her kiss with his friend, Austen Kroll. So where does Shep stand with his Southern Charm friends?
The fact that Shep spent the majority of BravoCon 2023 absolutely sloshed, by his own admission, could have been excused by the feeling that he was suffering from what he experienced all season. Yet both Craig Conover and Austen both chose to step away from their respective friendships. Craig pointed to the numerous times that Shep claimed to be changing his lifestyle for the better.
So perhaps it was also in Shep’s best interest to step away from the group. In retrospect, the Southern Charm OG, said as much during a recent interview with fellow Bravolebrity’s Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright.
Shep Rose taking some time away from Southern Charm friends
On the latest episode of When Reality Hits with Jax and Brittany, Shep revealed how Taylor Ann Green and Austen’s kiss affected him.
“Watching it back, I was really, kind of got more and more angry,” Shep explained. “I feel like he treated the thing with Taylor very cavalierly and callously and I just thought, oh, screw that. And was laughing about it and snickering. I was not happy. That’s so uncool. Just felt … hurt by a lot of it after the fact.”
And Shep didn’t get any closure from the reunion, which saw more deflection from Austen. The Bravolebrity acknowledged that his co-stars have the “right” to feel a certain way about the hookup. But, that doesn’t mean that he won’t take a “step back” if needed.
“After the whole thing that went down where I talked about it at the reunion, I just felt a little abandoned by some people that I thought were my friends,” he explained.
“I just thought, I’m going to take a step back from certain relationships and give it air,” Shep added. “I don’t want to kill them, I’m just not going to water the plant for a little bit. I’m only going to water plants that produce beauty on my end or beauty around me or love.”
So what does taking some space look like for Shep and Austen’s friendship?
“I’ll give him a big hug and I’ll support him in everything that he does, but just as far as the day-to-day banter, it is not where it was at all. And that’s OK. Maybe one day it will be.”
Meanwhile, the friendship with Craig has also cooled a bit, though they maintain a “mutual respect in that regard.” Shep acknowledged how “different” the two friends are.
“I mean, we couldn’t be two more different human beings on every scale, measurable way you could ever think of … but having said that — and we laugh about this from time to time — it’s made for really good TV over nine seasons. Just us butting heads, us seeing the world in a different way,” he explained.
“I know that he desires a friendship and I do too, but I just took a step back from some of my show friends over the past month and a half, two months, maybe more,” Shep added. “And that’s OK. You kind of have to, don’t you?”
Perhaps the trio will return in top notch form to film Season 10. Shep seems hopeful this will be the case.
“The funny thing is, we’ll get filming again if and when it comes back, and it’ll be interesting to see us build our new normal. You know?” he said to Jax and Brittany. “And I know you guys can attest to this, the show can be the best therapist in the world sometimes.”
TELL US – DO YOU THINK SHEP, CRAIG, AND AUSTEN CAN BE CLOSE FRIENDS AGAIN?
