Leva Bonaparte is opening up about her season eight finale encounter with co-star Craig Conover.
Ahead of the new, drama-filled episode of Southern Charm, Leva admitted that a lot had been “stewing” between her and Craig, much of which was sparked by the drama between him and his ex-girlfriend, Naomie Olindo, ahead of his Sewing Down South holiday party.
“I think the finale is a big culmination of a lot of things that the viewer sees—some of it; They don’t see all of it… There’s just a lot of stuff stewing,” Leva explained to E! News on September 28. “I’ve had a friendship with Craig for over a decade and Naomie threw my baby shower. I got that close to Naomie when she was dating Craig. It’s a very, very true friendship.”
Although Leva was friends with both Craig and Naomie, she “innately [got] interwoven” in their season eight drama and had a hard time tolerating Craig when he began name-calling and yelling at Naomie.
“I don’t like to be screamed at and I certainly am not okay when a girlfriend of mine is being screamed at by her ex,” Leva stated. “I think any girl in that position sort of goes back into a pattern like, ‘He’s yelling at me. I’m just gonna be quiet and wait for it to go away.’ But as a girlfriend, you get protective because you’ve been there for all of it.”
According to Leva, she tried to give Craig the benefit of the doubt as he sparred with Naomie because she knew he was “managing a lot of emotions.” However, ahead of the taping of the finale, she reached a breaking point.
“I was just like, ‘I ain’t your girlfriend. I don’t know who you think you can talk to that way, but it’s not me.’ I had a little bit of enough at that point,” she admitted.
Leva also teased the upcoming reunion, which she said would be the “rawest” yet.
“It will genuinely be the rawest reunion,” Leva shared. “Last year there were a lot jaw-dropping moments but this year, it’s just a lot of big feelings. There’s a lot of hurt and things that need to be mended. We were just all crying. It was a lot of friends that were hurt and partners that are hurt.”
“Even I was shocked by things with people that I’m very close friends with,” she added.
Southern Charm season eight airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.