’Southern Charm’s Craig Conover Draws Criticism for Post-Breakup Actions

Southern Charm's Craig Conover has been making the rounds through various forms of media since his split with longtime girlfriend Paige DeSorbo. Within a month of the breakup, Craig’s lack of social grace and etiquette is echoing back to the earlier years of Craig, especially after his breakup with Naomie Olindo. Guys like Carl Radke, Shep Rose, Jax Taylor, and most famously, Tom Sandoval, have all attempted this rebranding, and sooner or later, they unveil that they never evolved, they were just on their best behavior because things were going their way.

Many people credited Paige for incentivizing Craig’s drastic evolution from a rudderless, rowdy man-child to, well, a more palatable, distinguished man-child. He backed away from drinking, he took steps back from friendships that were draining for him, he was vocal about taking measures to change by taking personal inventory. In the beginning, he wasn’t the best boyfriend, even lashing out at Paige and her friends while intoxicated during Summer House and was obnoxious and obstinate during their time on Winter House as a couple, leaving Paige mortified. Over time, Craig ostensibly changed, and many fans believed he was on track to get married to Paige. Despite their seemingly strong brand together, it wasn't that surprising that Paige broke up with Craig as she had zero intention of moving to Charleston and enmeshing herself in Craig's life the same way he did for her.

Paige Broke Up With Craig

Viewers saw Craig pry at Paige about marriage and kids, and it was obvious that he wasn't even listening to her, he just saw the version of her and their relationship that he wanted to see. It just wasn't for her in the long run, she came to terms with that, and she broke up with him — that tends to be how healthy breakups shake out. His rebrand into a bro version of Martha Stewart rendered him the most swoonworthy guy at Bravo, and the goodwill he developed with audiences is why so many fans have been harsh towards Paige at the dawn of the breakup.

Seeing Craig switch off the charm instantaneously because he was left embittered by the whole relationship was eye-opening. He did nothing to police the backlash against Paige for moving on a couple of months after she broke up with him, and he doubled down on it, saying that he owed her nothing on Watch What Happens Live. Come to think of it, he never did anything about the backlash against Paige while they were dating him, either when his fans would litter the comment sections of her Instagram posts. Craig also made zero overtures to clear up that they had been broken up for longer than people believed, and during his press tour for the premiere of Southern Charm, he lied repeatedly, explicitly stating that Paige and him were together. Craig, who is a 36-year-old man, even went as far as unfollowing both Paige and her friends and castmates, Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula, after they made light-hearted comments about his lack of etiquette since the breakup. Did Craig mature during their relationship? Of course, but that's not saying much considering he acted like an indolent, over-indulged 16-year-old even though he's well into his thirties.

Male Bravolebrity Rebrands Are Almost Always Insincere

Craig and his team have been leaning into satiating the suburban moms that fight his battles in Internet comment sections by appearing on the Tamron Hall Show instead of directly acknowledging his petty and immature transgressions in the wake of his breakup. Those who chided and side-eyed Craig would have absolutely understood — who hasn't been resentful after a breakup? However, he side-stepped accountability and appeared on a cushy, women-led talk show that lobbed him softball questions. He made jokes about not being able to keep a girlfriend as Tamron showed him adoring memes that Bravo Instagram accounts made about him, but it felt icky because it was less self-deprecating and more self-pitying. He waved off the bombshell claims Paige made about him texting other women while they were still together in the last couple seconds of the Summer House premiere. He unearthed the adorable, impish "What's wrong with my sewing?" schtick that helped him garner sympathy after his split from Naomie, who got much of the same treatment as Paige did because she was expected to child-rear her boyfriend. Craig did acknowledge that they had a good run together, but despite that, he still called Paige's charge against him "retalitory" and later cleared up that he's not dating any time soon, although he's "trying to move forward" and "downloaded a dating app."

We've all seen the same song and dance with "reformed" male Bravolebrities that truly insist that they change for the right woman. It's a played-out narrative that a man will change for the right woman because he's hinging it all on one person, and when she inevitably disappoints him, suddenly it's okay for him to revert back to his old ways. Once they realize that the object of their affection isn't an object, but rather a human, and isn't a reflection, but rather a presence, that's when they lift the mask and show that they really are still stunted. It's disappointing and extremely telling that a demographic that's made up of mostly women hasn't learned this after seeing it play out time and again on camera, and instead uses it as an excuse to lash out at Paige. Southern Charm is available to stream on Peacock in the US.