Craig Conover has addressed his breakup with Paige DeSorbo.
The “Southern Charm” star, 35, made a video on his Instagram Stories on Tuesday and finally spoke about their shocking split.
“This has all been very, very unexpected to say the least,” said Conover. “But I guess life has to — I gotta start living again, whatever that looks like, whatever my new normal looks like, I have to start.”
“Right before the holidays, I was very shocked,” he added about the breakup. “It’s okay. It takes two people to be in a relationship. You can’t control other people, you can only control how you react to it.”
“Remember to be kind to Paige, and me and yourselves, and all of that good stuff,” he went on. “I’m still processing everything, which is normal. Three year relationship. It’s your best friend who you talk to all day, every day, and then they’re just gone.”
Conover concluded, “One day I’ll be able to talk more on it. But right now I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind messages. It has been really nice to read them and it’s just life.”
The Bravolebrities were together for three years and recently sparked engagement rumors just weeks before DeSorbo announced they had decided to go their separate ways.
The “Summer House” star, 32, broke the news on her “Giggly Squad” podcast with co-host Hannah Berner on Monday, noting she and Conover “have decided to no longer be together.”
“It’s weird, it’s very weird. I wasn’t expecting this,” DeSorbo shared. “Obviously, when we first started dating, you don’t think, ‘Oh, what will happen? Will we get married, will we not?’ You’re just kind of like in this relationship.”
“Not to sound traditional and old-fashioned, this is not a situation where I have, like, a 50-part series of ‘Who the f–k was I dating?’” she joked of the TikTok trend. “Could not be more opposite of that.”
DeSorbo went on to say that she has “so much love and respect for Craig.”
“I think he is one of the best people I have ever met in my entire life. I will remain the biggest fan of him and want the best for him and he truly will get the best because he is the best. But with that said, I think it was just the right decision for both of us moving forward in our lives and the direction in our lives that we didn’t force.”
She also said that “no one did anything,” elaborating of the split, “It wasn’t a bad thing. I think we both were just being really mature and saying what we want and what we didn’t want, and I think that’s extremely powerful to be able to voice how you’re feeling in real time and what you want for your future.”
Their breakup came following weeks of social media rumors about the pair getting engaged over the holidays.
Conover, who lives in Charleston, S.C., often talked about his desire for marriage and children with New York-based DeSorbo, who always made it clear that she wasn’t in a rush to walk down the aisle.
Last year, he addressed the distance between them.
“I think there was so much pressure from the outside world. I love what we have now. My home base is Charleston and hers is New York, but if it was a Venn diagram, we cross over. We’re always together, we’re just in one place and the other,” he previously told People. “I think I’ve settled into a more sustainable flow of this is what works for us and let’s just enjoy it instead of rushing into the next step.”
Conover and DeSorbo often appeared on each other’s Bravo shows; however, the “Summer House” Season 9 trailer appeared to show there was trouble brewing in paradise, including scenes where DeSorbo and her co-star Ciara were talking about Conover’s “hater energy.”
DeSorbo was also seen crying in bed while saying she was losing “everything.”
Despite the drama, her co-stars Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke swore that DeSorbo and Conover were more solid than ever at Fan Fest this fall.
