Credit: Bravo
Craig Conover believes that Austen Kroll is the problem when it comes to the ongoing tension in their friendship.
As the two of them attempt to get their relationship back in a good place on the currently airing 11th season of Southern Charm, Craig, 36, and Austen, 38, appear to be on completely separate pages, with Craig claiming he carries the weight of their friendship and Austen suggesting Craig’s apology was inauthentic and accusing him of playing nice to gather information to use against him.
“Here’s the problem: The amount of things that he’s done to me over the years that I’ve had to forgive, it really comes down to he always has a problem with how I live my life. Last year, he had a problem with me not coming out with him. This year, he was jealous that he wasn’t coming out with us,” Craig began on the January 7 episode of the Southern Charm: After Show.
According to Craig, he’s the “better friend.”
“I think that I’m a better friend to Austen than he is to me, and I think I carry the whole weight of the relationship,” he declared, admitting that Austen “probably thinks the same thing.”
“It’s weird because Austen and I have so much fun together and I love him as a person, but I don’t think he likes me … like, he hates me,” Craig continued. “[And] if Austen doesn’t accept me for who I am, I don’t know what the answer is.”
“I truly think this is an Austen issue,” he added.
As for how the two of them could mend their friendship for good, Craig said Austen needs a passion.
“If Austen finds his passion and what makes him happy, we won’t have any of these issues … He’ll actually have something of his own life going on, and he won’t be so worried about everyone else,” he concluded.
In his own After Show segment, Austen targeted Craig’s apology.
“The apology that he was trying to give me was, ‘I’m sorry that my words upset you,’ and I’m like, ‘That’s not an apology,’ and that’s how it felt, and I was like, ‘That was what I was waiting for, is this piece of sh*t apology?’ ‘I’m sorry that my first hurt your face. It shouldn’t have been there.’ That’s not an apology,” he shared.
Reflecting on the back and forth he and Craig have had in recent years, Austen said that he always had “high hopes” for a genuine apology and the ability to actually “move on.” However, he doesn’t feel that Craig has a real interest in what’s going on in his life. In fact, as he recalled their cat shopping outing, Austen suspected Craig was only asking questions to gather information he could later throw back at him.
“It was like the first convo where he genuinely was actually asking me questions about, ‘What’s up with you and [now-ex-girlfriend Audrey Pratt]?’ And I thought that I was having a conversation with him about, ‘Hey, when the grass is greener on the other side.’ By no means when I was talking to Craig was I trying to be like, ‘I wish that I was single,’” Austen explained of the jealousy accusations. “There’s an easy answer if I wanted to be single. She’s not my wife, right?”
“In the moment, I feel like I want to believe [he’s genuine]. I’m so quick, especially with Craig, to just be like, ‘Ok, oh my god. Are we fully back?’ And then something happens, and I’m like ‘Oh did you just use information that I told you when I thought we were vibing as friends against me? Wait, are you only asking questions so you can collect information to dump on me later?’” he shared.
Southern Charm season 11 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.