Despite his playboy-checkered past, Southern Charm’s Olivia Flowers is standing by her man, Austen Kroll.
In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Olivia says she was fully aware of Austen’s past dating history and complicated relationship with his ex, Madison LeCroy, but she chose to dive in head-first anyway.
“No one held back [sic] so I got an earful,” she confessed to the outlet. “But that didn’t really have anything to do with me though, so I still moved forward with it.”
In fact, Olivia believes Austen is misunderstood and as honest as they come, stating she’s watched his time on other Bravo shows such as Summer House and Winter House. She believes he came in transparent, but unfortunately, his intentions were projected onto him from other cast members as he arrived just wanting “to have a good time.”
“I think he’s very misrepresented,” Olivia said of Austen’s reputation. “He’s very sensitive, and I think a lot of the times, he really does just speak his mind and say things how they are. And I think they can be misunderstood sometimes.”
Olivia continued, “The Summer House thing, when I watched it back, I thought he was very honest about his intentions. He was showing up single and wanted to have a good time. So, I think sometimes people can get in their own feelings, and he’s just an easy one to make the bad guy. But I don’t think he ever is out to intentionally hurt anyone.”
So, how is the couple doing now? Olivia played it coy (though the two have confirmed they have been seeing each other exclusively), saying that viewers will just have to watch the season play out. But judging by her statement, it’s looking like there’s a positive outlook for the two’s romantic future.
“You have to tune in and watch the rest of the season to find out, but we’re in a very good place,” Olivia said. “I wouldn’t be involved with him, how I have been, if I couldn’t [see a future with him].”
Meanwhile, when it comes to her fellow Southern Charm co-star and Austen’s ex, Madison, it’s a completely different story. Olivia says she has consistently tried to be “cordial” with Madison, but she is finally realizing it’s a lose-lose situation. Madison has presented herself as friendly to Olivia’s face, but she makes nasty comments behind her back.
“I really had the intention of just at least being cordial [with her],” Olivia said. “She and I never needed to be friends and go to brunch together, but I didn’t see any reason for us to have anything negative to say about the other or be nasty to one another.”
However, Olivia’s “breaking point” came when she found out that Madison had been speaking ill of people she cared about behind her back along with Olivia herself.
“So, when I kept hearing some things that she was saying about me or people that I care about, after a while — and we’d had such friendly interactions — so then to have those friendly interactions and then to hear that she was saying other things behind my back, and saying nasty things? It was like, I just got pushed to the point of frustration,” Olivia continued.
As for where the two stand now, Olivia says she’s done doing “the fake thing.” Viewers have seen this in action in previews for the season’s upcoming episodes. The previews show Olivia giving Madison the middle finger after Madison referred to her as “homeless” and “trust-fund trash.”
Fortunately, Olivia has made peace with one co-star, Venita Aspen, after last season’s racially charged situation involving Kathryn Dennis’ posts on Instagram and Olivia coming to the defense of Kathryn.
Olivia said she never meant to “dismiss” Venita’s feelings, saying at the time she felt uncomfortable as soon as the word “racist” was brought up as the two had just met and felt Venita’s timing was “inappropriate.”
“I still feel that way about that,” Olivia confessed. “However, I never meant to do anything to make her feel dismissed. I just felt that was a really bad time to have that conversation, and I didn’t understand where it was coming from, also. That was also the confusing part to me. … I was like, ‘I have nothing to do with [Kathryn’s history].'”
“Venita and I are in a good place now,” Olivia shared. “It really was just that one conversation we needed to have…. We just needed to be on the same page. And I mean, after that, throughout the rest of the season, we’re fine. And we’re in a good place, now.”
Southern Charm season eight is currently airing Thursday nights at 9 p.m. EST on Bravo.