Molly O’Connell and Craig Conover. Charles Sykes/Bravo; Arturo Holmes/WireImage)
Southern Charm newcomer Molly O’Connell has history with costar Craig Conover, but she’s kept her distance after his recent breakup from Paige DeSorbo.
“I have not [reached out]. I have sent him a meme or something,” O’Connell, 37, said during the Thursday, January 16, episode of “The Viall Files” podcast. “I don’t remember what it was. Nothing crazy or flirty or anything. [It was about] a waterslide.”
She added, “I have not checked in on him. I feel like I’m gonna let him [be].”
O’Connell explained that she “would assume” that other cast members have reached out to Conover, 35.
Craig Conover is trying to live in the now after his split from Paige DeSorbo, a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “Craig has been in good spirits since his split from Paige was announced,” the insider says, noting that the Southern Charm star “has a lot of friends rallying around him.” While Conover, 35, is […]
“I saw the video that he posted, kind of addressing what had happened,” O’Connell recalled. “He was smiling, but it looked like a pained smile. It was very depressing, so I’m not trying to jump on someone who’s [healing] — and we haven’t been like that in years.”
O’Connell, who has been friendly with costars Whitney Sudler-Smith and Madison LeCroy for years, made her Bravo debut when Southern Charm season 10 premiered last month. In the trailer, fans learned about her steamy past with Conover.
“Craig and I, we used to sext each other,” O’Connell told LeCroy, 34.
Paige DeSorbo and Craig Conover. Amy Sussman/Getty Images
When the season was filmed, Conover and DeSorbo, 32, were still together. The Summer House star announced their breakup in December 2024 after three years of dating.
“I love him, I think he loves me. I think we will remain friends. No one did anything. It wasn’t a bad thing,” DeSorbo said on her “Giggly Squad” podcast. “I think we both were just being really mature and saying what we want and what we didn’t want, and I think that’s extremely powerful to be able to voice how you’re feeling in real-time and what you want for your future.”
Weeks later, Conover revealed that the split was “very unexpected.”
“I guess I gotta start living again, whatever that looks like. Whatever my new normal looks like — I have to start,” he said in a January 7 social media video. “‘Gratitude will get you through this, with time comes clarity’ – all of the advice, I’m trying to listen to. But, yeah. [It happened] right before the holidays. I was very shocked. And it’s OK.”
Conover added, “You can’t control other people, you can only control how you react to it. Remember to be kind to Paige and me and yourselves and all of that good stuff. … [It’s] a three-year relationship, it’s your best friend who you talk to all day every day, and then they’re just gone.”
Conover and DeSorbo met in 2021 while filming season 1 of Winter House, making their public debut as a couple at her costars Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula’s wedding that fall. Throughout their long-distance relationship, Conover and DeSorbo also appeared on one another’s reality TV shows.
