Austen Kroll and Madison LeCroy’s official relationship status according to their Southern Charm costar Craig Conover? It’s STILL complicated.
“We all want to not be a part of it anymore, like, you can only lead a horse to water so much, but you can’t force them to drink and that’s just what it got to,” Craig, 31, exclusively told Us Weekly, noting that the cast got “sucked back into” Austen and Madison’s relationship drama during season 7. “It’s just not good for anyone. I think it affects his career, his business, his happiness, everything.”
Craig went on to compare Austen and Madison’s rocky romance to a past relationship of his own.
“When you have a trauma bond with someone, it takes up, you know, three-quarters of your brain and your thoughts and your emotions. It’s happened to me before,” he told Us. “It happened after I got out of my relationship with Naomie [Olindo] … I had to look at myself and be like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ And you get out and you don’t make someone a priority that makes you a choice.”
Fans started watching Austen and Madison’s on-again, off-again relationship during season 6 of Southern Charm. During an appearance at BravoCon in November 2019, Austen confirmed that they were back on, but their romance won’t be smooth sailing during season 7, which filmed in 2020. Craig, for his part, told Us that he doesn’t “blame” Madison for his friend’s messy love life.
“I love Madison. Austen has all the information he needs to make an adult decision and he chooses to stay with her. So you’ll see why though in this season that it’s still an issue,” the Sewing Down South creator said.
Craig concluded that Austen and Madison’s status “depends on the day of the week,” while his costar Shep Rose is hot and heavy with girlfriend Taylor Ann Green.
He explained, “It’s fascinating, this will be the first year that you see [me] dating, Shep’s in a relationship and Austen’s … I don’t know. Something’s always changing and is new.”
Southern Charm season 7 premieres on Bravo Thursday, October 29, at 9 p.m. ET.
