Why Southern Charm's Craig Conover And Naomie Olindo Split In 2017

Watchers of Bravo's Southern Charm met Naomie Olindo through her then-boyfriend, Craig Conover. The pair dated for three years before a mutual split in 2017.

Craig and Naomie met when they were students at the College of Charleston. She originally had no interest in him, but Craig always had his eyes on the French-born beauty. "I knew with Naomie that if there was ever any girl I was going to date, it was going to be her," Conover told Bravo's The Daily Dish in 2016. Bravo fans saw the highs and lows of the couple on Southern Charm as they moved in together, traveled the world, and ran a marathon.

Naomie confirmed their split on Instagram when she responded to a fan who asked if she and Craig were still together. "Unfortunately we are not. But we are still great friends," Olindo wrote.

Craig opened up about his split from Naomie in a 2018 interview with The Daily Dish. He admitted while they had "the best of intentions," they regretfully could not make their romance work. He added that while they did still "care about each other," they could not "get along." While he "wished things were different," the former lawyer admitted the couple had to accept "reality."

"But instead of banging your head against the wall every day, you really have to look in the mirror and be like, 'How long are we gonna keep lying to ourselves?' So, fortunately, no one did anything bad. No one stepped out or cheated or anything, so there wasn't really any anger. It was just kind of disappointing and sad," the reality star shared.

Naomie Olindo And Craig Conover's Relationship's Changed With Time

Craig Coover was 25 years old and Naomie Olindo was 22 years old when they started dating, and they felt that as they matured, their priorities had changed. She told The Daily Dish, "When I was younger, you just start dating someone because you have a couple things in common, and you're attracted to each other and you have fun together."

Naomie famously yelled at Craig on the reality show about his choice to sew at home rather than become a lawyer. “This is who I turn into when I’m around you. I’m not this s****y, mean person,” Naomie told Craig during a Season 5 episode.

Naomie and Craig regularly fought about "adult things" in the show and often found their lifestyles conflicting. She called out Craig during Cameran Eubanks' baby shower at Patricia Altschul's house for being a "procrastinator." She would not support Craig's sewing hobby because she believed "he was using sewing as a way to procrastinate doing things that he actually needed to do, you know, important things."

While she was proud of his personal and professional accomplishments, Naomie had little interest in his investment properties and cared more about "the day-to-day".

But if you sleep all day now to the point where I don't even want to see you anymore because you go to bed when I get up in the morning and then sleep until I go to bed at night, it doesn't work.

The reality TV star continued, "So that was the issue. I'm very proud of everything he's accomplished, and I think it's amazing. My problem was with the daily stuff, the small things."

Naomie Olindo Reflects On How She Treated Craig Conover On Southern Charm

Naomie Olindo opened up about her split with Craig to The Daily Dish and why things could not work between the pair. She admitted there was no drama or cheating, they simply could not make it work, although she had some regrets.

"I think it was just a culmination of things that at the end of it, we were just two very different people that couldn't get along," she said "It was sad because we did care about each other. You saw, we just could not get along."

According to ScreenRant, Naomie admitted to the outlet that she regretted the way she was "so mean to Craig" on Southern Charm. When she watched it back, she explained how she wished she had been nicer to him and felt "weird" watching her anger back.

"Oh my gosh, I think that's probably my biggest regret," she started saying.

It's funny because now I'm in such a different headspace than I was eight or nine months ago, and so watching back how angry I was all the time, and I'm like, 'Why did you let this drag out so long? Why didn't you just get over it and act like a nice human being?'

Not all of her harshness was met with negativity. Craig admitted that her brutal comments about his sewing helped "motivate" him in the long run.

The fashion retail owner told Us Weekly, “If it helped him even one percent — even though I hate that I was mean — then, yeah, I don’t regret it.”

Naomie Olindo And Craig Conover Both Moved On After Splitting

Naomie Olindo and Craig Conover moved on after their split, but not before one last fling.

The pair hooked up in Las Vegas before filming Season 8 of Southern Charm. However, the French-born reality star told Us Weekly that they were "definitely better as friends” before adding, “We learned so much from each other and from the whole situation that there’s no way either one of us could regret that.”

• Naomie went Instagram official with Metul Shah in April 2018. Season 6 would show audiences the early stages of their romance.
• PEOPLE reported Naomie and Metul broke up in July 2021 after she learned via social media that he had cheated on her.
• "Her making it official was weird, but they had been together for a while," Craig revealed to PEOPLE, before adding, "As long as she stays out of my life, then I'm happy for her. I just don't want her getting involved with anything I'm doing."
• Season 7 of Southern Charm introduced the audience to Craig's new girlfriend, Natalie Hegnauer, but the pair split in May 2021.

Craig has been dating Summer House star Paige DeSorbo after they met in the summer of 2021. "We built a friendship and got to know each other first, and it all happened naturally. You see the foundation of our relationship start to form on [Summer House]."

Naomie Olindo has been private since leaving Southern Charm, and it's unknown if she is currently dating anyone new.

Season 10 of Southern Charm airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo and streams on Peacock.