Reality TV sweethearts Paige DeSorbo and Craig Conover, who first crossed paths in the Hamptons while filming the hit show Summer House, called it quits after three years of dating.
“Craig and I have decided to no longer be together,” DeSorbo, 32, fought back tears as she publicly addressed the breakup during the Monday episode of her and Hannah Berner’s ‘Giggly Squad’ podcast. Having parted ways amicably with Conover, she admitted, “I love him. I think he loves me. I think we will remain friends. No one did anything. It wasn’t a bad thing.” She further explained, “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.” The reality TV starlet even called Craig “definitely the best boyfriend I’ve ever had.”
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Long-distance possibly affected their romance
Although Paige didn’t spill many details about what actually caused them to go their separate ways, it’s speculated that a long-distance relationship posed challenges to the pair since 2022. Conover confessed to Page Six about the exacerbating issue at the time, “You know, long-distance is working for us. We’re fortunate that we’re on the East Coast, so it’s only an hour flight, but it is getting harder and harder.”
Paige and Craig went Instagram official with their relationship in December 2022 following months of romance rumours. The heartbreaking U-turn in their love story has especially left reality TV fans distraught, as many hoped they would build a long-term future together. DeSorbo’s December 30 breakup admission comes just weeks after Conover, 35, told PEOPLE about his potential marriage plans with the Summer House star.
Craig Conover had marriage plans with Paige DeSorbo
The Southern Charm celeb said of his relationship with DeSorbo, “We’re playing the long game. It would be easy to go for instant gratification, but the foundation that we’re building is so that we die together one day, not just make it fun.”
He went on, “We know we’re going to get married one day, and when it happens, it’ll be a lot of fun, but whenever that is, who knows?” The Summer House couple’s heartfelt friends-to-lovers connection blossomed onscreen Southern Charm and Winter House as well. Conover’s previous mention of the relationship went as far as discussing kids.
“When people ask about me and Paige, Paige says it well, she’s like, ‘I get it. When I watch TV shows, I feel like I want to know that I’m a part of it,” he said. “We share our lives with everyone, but there’s a lot of noise.”
He continued, “We really don’t know what that looks like. We’ve got a couple years probably until we start having kids, and then we’ll have to figure it out. But I’ve really taken this normal role now of being a happy wife, happy life.”
“The goal is when we do start to have kids, we’ll be able to stay home with them as much as possible. We had to make the decision: do we go live a traditional life with someone that’s not each other and I find someone in Charleston or not? We decided finding your person is the hard part and then we’ll figure it out after.”
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Paige DeSorbo debunks claims of Bravo manipulating the breakup announcement timing
While announcing the split on the podcast, Paige was quick to dispel speculations that Bravo had anything to do with their breakup decision’s timing. She elaborated, “It’s a very sad thing. And just to say this — not that I even have to — but in terms of people saying, ‘Oh, Paige was told to wait until Southern Charm came out or Summer House came out.’ No one can tell me what to do.” Setting the record straight, she asserted, “The network has power, but they don’t have that much power.”
Denying Bravo’s involvement in the announcement, she emphasised, “That is not a real thing. Rumours of us breaking up months ago was also not a real thing.”
The Summer House star came clean about how the chatter surrounding her relationship with her co-star affected them. “Our first rumour was that we were in a PR relationship. So we’ve been with these rumours our whole relationship and we didn’t really give it a second thought,” she revealed. But I didn’t want [my listeners] to think I was leaving them out of the loop or something. Not at all.”
Paige confirmed that they were still together despite the surfacing rumours at the time. Even after their actual breakup, DeSorbo affirmed that she waited it out to revisit that chapter publicly. “When we did break up, obviously, I didn’t run to social media and I didn’t run to the podcast. We both gave each other a little time to deal with it on our own in private with our family and friends.”
Bravo standout Andy Cohen has since subtly reacted to the news. Leaving a series of crying face emojis in the comments section of a Paige-Craig breakup post shared by the network’s The Daily Dish Instagram account, he reflected what many fans were already feeling.