Patricia Altschul was confronted with a rumor about a potentially secret romance with Shep Rose on Instagram after sharing a group photo of herself, Austen Kroll, and Whitney Sudler-Smith.
Before defending her son against claims of being “pretentious” and “spoiled,” the 81-year-old Southern Charm cast member fired back at a fan who suggested she was hooking up with her co-star, Shep, who is newly single after a split from Taylor Ann Green. At 42, Shep is nearly 40 years younger than Patricia.
“I wish you all knew the truth…..keep watching,” Patricia teased in the caption of the July 27 photo of herself, Austen, and Whitney having dinner together at the Isaac Jenkins Mikell House restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina.
Following the posting of the photo, a fan wrote, “Respectfully, I sincerely hope the rumors about you and Shep hooking up are not true Miss Patricia. Surely, you have better taste in men.”
And in response, Patricia made it clear that she found the rumor to be completely outlandish.
“You can’t be serious,” she replied.
Another fan began a sentence targeted at Patricia’s son, Whitney, saying, “Whitney is a pretentious spoiled …. ,” before Patricia finished the quote with a poignant statement.
“Successful producer of several TV shows,” she shared.
As Southern Charm fans have surely heard, Shep and Taylor parted ways earlier this month after about two years of dating amid rumors claiming Shep was a chronic cheater.
“Shep has a real issue with monogamy and refused to commit to Taylor, telling her that he doesn’t want to be with just one person and change his lifestyle,” a source revealed to PEOPLE on the heels of the news of their breakup.
“She’s incredibly hurt, but she knows that she deserves a guy who will fight for her, not one who is so selfish,” a second source added. “He’ll regret this.”
Prior to the split, Shep and Taylor experienced a pregnancy scare.
“I don’t want to have kids right now. But we don’t use protection,” Shep told Austen on the July 7 episode. “I don’t know what I want.”
During the same episode, Taylor questioned Shep’s happy reaction to her negative result.
“You’re gonna high five to my pain and misery?” she wondered. “You didn’t even ask how I felt. You just thought, like, ‘Oh, no, there was a scare. What am I gonna do?’ Like, you haven’t ever really said, ‘If things were to ever happen, you can trust in me.’”
Southern Charm season eight airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.