Venita and Craig After Southern Charm Season 11 Reunion: Closer Than Ever—or Beyond Repair?

Southern Charm almost never runs out of messy side plots, but Venita Aspen vs. Craig Conover turned into a full-on saga that jumped from late-night TV to BravoCon and all the way through the season 11 reunion. What started as a simple 'I’m Team Paige' moment snowballed into claims of blocking, accusations of trying to ice someone off the show, and one extremely pointed reunion one-liner. Here’s how it all unraveled — and where they left it.

First spark: WWHL, March 2025

Venita went on Watch What Happens Live in March 2025 and openly sided with Paige DeSorbo after Paige and Craig split in late 2024. She also said Craig was milking the breakup. She later explained she knows Paige through their mutual friend, Ciara Miller — they were never besties, but she saw Paige more than Craig and talked to her more. Her take on Craig back then: he never really tried to be her friend, so why would she rally around him now?

Craig’s clapback: also March 2025

Craig hit WWHL later that month and basically cut ties on live TV. He said as his circle gets smaller, he won’t be associated with Venita. He insisted it wasn’t about her choosing Paige — he said being Paige’s friend is fine — but he accused Venita of repeating gossip about him. His bottom line: they’re not friends, and no one is owed his friendship, least of all her.

Venita’s response: April 2025

Talking to Deadline a few weeks later, Venita said she was disappointed to hear Craig disown her on TV. She wished he’d taken a leadership approach — her words painted him as the quarterback who should guide his team — instead of labeling people who disagree with him as unworthy of friendship. Also, they didn’t talk privately, so she questioned what, exactly, she was expected to do.

BravoCon standoff: November 2025

At BravoCon in Las Vegas, Venita said Craig wouldn’t even look her way. Then she took a quick jab at his grooming, joking about his greasy hair while also complimenting his Bravos outfit and bow tie. It was petty, sure. Also undeniably on brand for a feud that started on late-night TV.

Season 11 begins (fall 2025): no détente in sight

Season 11 premiered in November 2025, and the distance between them was obvious right out of the gate. At Madison LeCroy’s baby shower, neither wanted to hash anything out. On camera, Venita said she’s terrified of Craig’s temper and rattled off a list of times she’s seen him yell — at Naomie Olindo, Leva Bonaparte, and JT Thomas — before flatly calling him a certified asshole. Craig told Rodrigo Reyes he doesn’t like her, doesn’t mess with her, and refused to get into it at the party.

Worth noting: around the show, cast chatter framed Craig as judgmental — the whole 'ivory tower' thing — and quick to anger. Season 11 didn’t exactly disprove that.

Ciara Miller steps in: December 2025

As the season aired, Venita took heat online for not smoothing things over. Ciara Miller jumped into a TikTok comment thread to defend her friend and point out the reality here: Venita is the only Black woman on a mostly white Southern cast, and that dynamic comes with a different set of expectations and backlash. Ciara also said something that raised eyebrows for fans who know how these shows get made: if a main cast member refuses to film with another main cast member, that’s basically code for trying to push them out.

Venita backed that up on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast that month, saying Craig literally refused to film with her. For her, that wasn’t just personal — it put her job and platform at risk. She got choked up talking about it.

Meanwhile, a Salley situation

At the top of season 11, Venita and Salley Carson were tight. Then Salley started pursuing something with Craig, right in the middle of Venita’s fallout with him. Venita wasn’t thrilled — she’d seen Salley date, didn’t want her getting tied up with someone she considers a bad egg, and was still stung that Craig publicly said he couldn’t be friends with someone like her. Salley spending more time with Craig created cracks, but the two women stayed in each other’s lives — just with some bumps along the way.

Trying to be the bigger person (yes, again)

Venita says she still showed up and tried to play nice. Case in point: Craig’s Memorial Day pool party. She went, brought towels for everyone, and framed it as another 'be the bigger person' move.

Instagram blocking and zero offline resolution

While taping that same December 2025 podcast, Venita got a text from her assistant: Craig had just blocked the assistant on Instagram. Venita figured Craig blocked her too — she had previously blocked him herself, then unblocked him to 'grow up' — and called the whole thing juvenile. The bigger frustration for her was the lack of any private conversation. She said a single text from Craig — 'Hey, I don’t like what you’ve been saying, can we talk?' — could have started to fix things. She also claimed she tried to get one-on-one time during filming and he wasn’t having it.

Reunion fireworks (and some apologies): March 2026

At the season 11 reunion, Craig said Venita barely knew Paige when she publicly took Paige’s side, calling it a bandwagon move. Venita shot back that Craig was more than happy to talk about that breakup to anyone who’d listen, which is why she called it out in the first place. She added that Craig’s problem with her went back before she ever weighed in on Paige.

Things got tense over who interrupts whom and who pretends to be whose friend off-camera, and then Craig delivered the line of the night:

You burned the bridge and then asked why I don’t visit. We don’t know each other. We don’t have a relationship — we never have.

Craig also said he’d heard Venita was talking about him a lot. Venita apologized on the spot for saying nasty things about him. Later, he owned up to snapping at her on the Mexico group trip — that was the moment where she told Austen Kroll to stand up for himself against Craig — and admitted he should have come to her directly instead of blowing up. He basically said he avoided it.

By the end, they weren’t hugging it out, but the room thawed a bit. Venita said they’re not at 100, but she’s optimistic things could trend better. She even joked about waiting on an invite to Craig’s hot tub. Craig’s answer: he’s ready when she is.

Quick timeline for the receipts

• Late 2024: Craig Conover and Paige DeSorbo split.
• March 2025: On WWHL, Venita says she’s Team Paige and accuses Craig of milking the breakup. Craig goes on WWHL later and says he won’t be associated with Venita, claiming she regurgitated gossip.
• April 2025: Venita tells Deadline she’s disappointed and would have preferred Craig lead by example instead of cutting her off publicly.
• November 2025: At BravoCon in Vegas, Venita says Craig won’t look at her; she jokes about his greasy hair but compliments his bow tie and outfit at The Bravos.
• November 2025: Southern Charm season 11 premieres. At Madison LeCroy’s baby shower, Venita calls Craig’s temper scary and labels him a certified asshole; Craig tells Rodrigo Reyes he doesn’t like her and won’t engage.
• December 2025: Ciara Miller defends Venita on TikTok, says refusing to film is code for pushing someone out, and calls out the different standards Black women face on these shows. Venita says Craig literally refused to film with her and worries about losing her job and platform.
• December 2025: Venita says she attended Craig’s Memorial Day pool party and brought towels to be the bigger person. During a podcast taping, her assistant reports Craig blocked her on Instagram; Venita thinks she’s blocked too.
• March 2026: Reunion. Craig calls Venita’s Paige support bandwagoning; Venita says he loved discussing the breakup. Craig drops the 'burned the bridge' line; Venita apologizes for nasty comments. Craig admits he was wrong to snap at her in Mexico. They end on a cautious maybe, with a joking hot tub invite.