Credit: The Photo Access / Alamy Stock Photo, Tommy Garcia/Bravo
Craig Conover and Naomie Olindo broke up many moons ago, but the mystery surrounding their relationship is still discussed in the Southern Charm fanbase.
As for Naomie, she seemed to move on fairly quickly, getting serious with boyfriend Metul Shah. It was so serious, in fact, that she moved to New York with him — until she learned of his alleged cheating. In a surprise twist, after her breakup with Metul, Naomie met up with Craig in Las Vegas.
What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay there, apparently, because their meetup becomes a major topic of conversation on season eight.
Speaking with Showbiz Cheatsheet, Naomie addressed the Vegas encounter. Though it occurred just last year, Naomie seemed determined to make it look like “ancient history.”
“It was a long time ago,” said the 29-year-old. “Which is why it’s so weird because everything you’re seeing play out was so long ago. It’s ancient history to most of us, but people are going to be seeing it for the first time … [laughs] Interesting. I’ll relive this I guess.”
The dynamic is strange for viewers because the meetup occurred in the summer of ’21 when Craig was dating Summer House’s Paige DeSorbo (although they weren’t yet exclusive).
According to Naomie, the run-in wasn’t as exciting as everyone thinks. “I mean it was like OK I know you. I trust you,” said the star, who was in a vulnerable place at the time. She insisted, “It wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as I think it may get played out on the show.”
Naomie also hinted at where she stands with Craig now. “No, yeah it’s gonna be fine,” said the star. “We’re friends… He sent a really nice group chat to everybody … very friendly. [But] I don’t think that me, him, and Paige are going to go out, the three of us, and grab a drink. Even though I wish we could have.”
“I think that throughout the season, you’ll see them figuring out their boundaries with that and then me trying to figure out what makes them comfortable versus not comfortable … And yeah, we just sort of figure it out. But everything is good now.”
Naomie then shared the real reason she broke it off with Craig.
Apparently, it was less about sewing and more about his Adderall addiction. “That was a big part of our problem,” she explained. “It was that he was [taking] like a bunch of Adderall and he would stay up all night. But not do things that he was supposed to be doing because he was just like kind of cracked out at the time.”
In his new book, Pillow Talk: What’s Wrong with My Sewing?, Craig opened up about his addiction. In one of the chapters, he recalled a moment when he was strung out by a dumpster and passed out.
“I think it’s awesome that [Craig] was brave enough to sort of open up about that,” said Naomie. “Because… that was just not something that would have been OK for me to share with anyone. And, you know, there always are things that you hold back for people that you care about, even when you hate them too.”
On a recent season eight preview, Naomie might have hated another castmate, Kathryn Dennis, as she approached Naomie during an elegant party.
“I feel definitely hurt by you… last year when you said I should be ashamed of myself,” said Kathryn.
“What you did, Kathryn, you tried to ruin a good person’s family,” replied Naomie.
From there, the conversation deteriorated.
“[I’m] done with your f**king a**,” snapped Kathryn. “You’re not better than anyone. You’re not better than me… She’s so fake.”
Naomie then shared, “You fight dirty… I’m not f**king scared of you. But guess what: You yelling and being the loudest person in the room, this is ridiculous.”
“I don’t need you to be scared of me,” Kathryn answered. “You don’t have to keep being condescending cause I have f**king passionate feelings. You made me feel a type of way through a really f**king hard time in my life that you’re not considerate of.”
She also called Naomie “a petty little b*tch.”
Naomie eventually stood up from the table before Kathryn mimicked her voice and encouraged her to “walk away.”
Southern Charm season eight premieres on Thursday, June 23, at 9/8c on Bravo.
