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Credit: Clifton Prescod/Bravo, Instagram
Season 10 of Southern Charm has ended, with both parts of the reunion having aired. Naturally, there’s a ton of fallout from the season, with Venita Aspen at the center of some of the drama. Now, the model is opening up about how it feels to have Craig Conover bash her, why she’s now over JT Thomas, and discussing Leva Bonaparte‘s departure.
This installment of Southern Charm wasn’t the easiest for Venita. She had developed a close bond with JT, and it seemed they were on the path to a serious relationship. Sadly, that ended. More recently, she revealed that she contacted Paige DeSorbo, which led Craig to say he wouldn’t associate himself with her.
Venita sat down for an interview with Deadline in which they asked her about Craig’s desire to not associate with her following her support of his EX. She said, “I’m quite disappointed.”
Venita continued, “I don’t operate like that from a friendship level, even if it’s a new friend, an old friend, or a friend that I’ve had back and forth with. I think that I would have preferred him to be the quarterback that he is and lead his teammates in whatever direction he wanted us to go, versus deeming people who go against whatever he wants unworthy of friendship. We don’t talk, so what was I supposed to do?”
She continued to explain her side, “It doesn’t take much to say, ‘Hey, I know we’re doing a job, but I really appreciate it if you got asked about our relationship, you didn’t talk about it.’ I would have said, ‘I completely understand.”
The interviewer then asked Venita if she saw a path forward for her friendship with Craig after his diss. According to her, “I think it would have to come from him, because I’ve never been one to shut him out or say I’m not interested in being friends with him based off of things he said about me in the past.”
She went on, “I just kind of let it roll. I deal with the person that’s in front of me. If he would want to take the time to schedule something to talk to me, or pick up the phone, or send a text message, like most people do, I would highly appreciate it, but I’m not going to be the one to make the first move on that. He’s already declared what he wants. So who might go against that, right?”
The Southern Charm star also revealed that Paige reached out after seeing Craig’s comments. Venita relayed, “She was quite disappointed in what she saw, and she reached out to me to check in [and] to make sure I was doing okay, which is really nice.”
Craig wasn’t the only topic of Venita’s conversation with Deadline. She also reflected on being more open on camera by saying, “I do really feel like every year I am doing my best to make sure that I’m solidifying my space in this group. I’m kind of talking out a little bit more, sharing a little bit more of my opinions. I feel like this year was really the year I felt like I was truly just putting all of it out there, being as open as I can be.”
She added, “In the past, the girls have kindly reminded me that sometimes I can be guarded, and I feel like I kind of let that go this year, which is a really nice feeling.”
Regarding why going into this past season felt different, she attributed it partly to JT. She said, “I really felt like I really have someone that I really shoot the shit with more so often than I do with the rest of the group, like seeing him every day. I was like, ‘I can fully be myself now.’ I felt comfortable. So that kind of pointed me into just being a little more open and sharing more.”
She then reflected on their relationship going downhill, saying, “Then, this past year we were like, ‘We need to show our friendship [and] share it with the rest of the world. We decided to do that, and [then] he decided to do other things that weren’t a part of us doing.”
The model continued, “Our friendship and the relationship aspect of it actually started after cameras stopped rolling. So we were working on figuring out what [an actual relationship] looked like [and] that was [between] September to November.”
From there, the interviewer asked why a friendship with him was “so important,” to which she replied, “It no longer is. I wish I knew then, what I know now, because I would answer that completely different.”
She went on, “In that moment [during Reunion Part 2], that was the first time JT and I had spoken and or seen each other since everything kind of hit the fan. I was just like, ‘Okay, I will give this guy a shot. I will give him time to explain himself and figure out if this is something that is worth saving.’ I’m not the type to just cut someone off and not let them voice or say whatever it is that they feel. I will take both sides into consideration before I make a decision. So that’s basically what I was trying to give in that moment. He lost that when he decided to continue to speak ill of me on social media weeks after the reunion was filmed.”
She then said, “It was very disappointing, considering even at the filming of my Watch What Happens Live [episode] and at the reunion, I say ‘I can be mad at you all day, but I’m not gonna let everyone else beat you up.’ I say something along those lines to really just kind of let him know, ‘Yes, I’m mad at you, but understand that the friendship is still that much more important [and] we can get over it.’”
Venita continued this line of conversation by saying, “So for him to do [post receipts against me on social media], it was very disappointing and very telling. I think right after he did that, I texted Taylor [Ann Green] for the second time, and I was like, ‘I should have listened to you sooner,’ and I apologized to her [and said,] ‘I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you sooner.’ She’s been pretty supportive of me with the whole situation, because she and JT had their own falling out last year.”
From there she said, “I think that sets me apart from this group, to be honest, because, I’ll give somebody a couple chances to try to figure their shit out, and then once I realize they’re not ever going to change, then I’ll make a decision on my own. I didn’t let anyone speak for me or try to persuade me in my decisions this year when it came to JT, when everyone was against him.”
She also talked about having conflicted feelings about Leva leaving the show. According to her, “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about it. I am very excited for Leva, but I would be remiss to say that I’m also very sad for myself to not have her back.”
She added, “I just feel like with the girls, we just have gotten it down to a science. I feel like we are… We’re a tight-knit. We’re putting in the work. We even got Leva to come out a lot this year, and she typically didn’t do that, just because she loves to spend a lot of time with [with her son] Little, but she was making the effort to be [to go out]. I’m a little sad that [the audience] won’t get to see that moving forward, but I am very, very happy for her.”
When asked if she wants to do season 11, Venita explained, “I do want to come back for another season. I feel like [if I return], there will be no more holding of the tongue. I’ll keep it classy, as I always do, but I will definitely be sure to share my opinions more often than not moving forward.”
She was then asked if she would do the show if JT also returned. She said, “At this time? No. Come back to me in a couple of months, see how I feel. But right now, I think I kind of got to let that one go for the time being.”
She then revealed, “I’m actually working on a project that might not come as a surprise to the people who are true fans of mine, but I’m working on trying to create a tablescape website. Basically, you can come to a one-stop shop for all your tablescape and hosting needs. It’s a brand new idea, but I’m very excited about it, because I can blend fashion and art in the tablescape.”
Fans can catch up on Southern Charm on Peacock.
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