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Southern Charm star Craig Conover addressed his past breakup with Paige DeSorbo, and he dished on why he forgave Kyle Cooke amid their years-long feud.
After the Summer House alum broke up with Craig in late 2024, many fans chose a side. Even several castmates (including Kyle, who’s had beef with Craig for years) went to bat for Paige. At the time, Craig seemingly refused to squash the rumors that Paige was seeing Joe D’Amelio (her current boyfriend) while she was still technically with Craig.
On The Good Guys podcast, Craig was asked about his public breakup with Paige.
The star pointed out the “parasocial” relationship between reality shows and their fans. (According to Cambridge Dictionary, parasocial is the connection fans have with a public figure who doesn’t know them.)
“Because we share so much of our lives and the fourth wall is so strong, you feel like you’re a part of us, and so you feel connected. And so when a breakup that public happens, when people felt so strongly about both of us and so close to both of us, it had an interesting effect or a ripple effect through the society that we were used to,” said Craig. “It was weird and tough and one of those things where you’re like, ‘This is happening for a reason.'”
“[I was] constantly reminded, but there’s no hiding from it,” he said. “You’re either digging yourself out of this emotional hole or you’re going to be stuck there because no one’s forgetting this and it’s documented.”
When asked if people immediately picked sides, Craig said cryptically that it was an “interesting study in human behavior … and in what people wanted to connect with more.”
“You saw a lot of people relating to one of the two of us and then, through that, trying to place their own experiences and almost get validation through that,” he said. “There was definitely this attachment that we dealt with.”
Craig suggested that his relationship with Paige was a “beautiful illustration” of “people leveling up.”
“For three years, me and the person that I was dating achieved more in our own lives than we ever had,” he explained. “I completely changed my relationship with alcohol. … My career took off, and now I get to do movies, which I don’t know if that would have ever happened. So it all happens for a reason. I think what was weird about having a public breakup is people try to capitalize off that. I think that was the most unexpected thing. We had a lot of people in our lives make it about them, which you now see on our network a lot.”
Later on, he addressed his recent reconciliation with Kyle. According to Craig, after seeing TikToks about forgiveness, he realized that he only related “forgiving people” to those he “thought deserved [it].”
“And Kyle was the first person who was a huge challenge to me, who I never thought I would speak to again because I thought there were things that happened that were unforgivable,” said Craig. “The next day he came to my store during a pillow party and took pictures with the fans, and the joy that it brought the fans to see me and him not hate each other, for some reason just triggered something in my head.”
“It didn’t cost anything,” said Craig. “I feel lighter. … Life’s too short. … We’re good.”