Olivia Flowers offered an update on where she stands with Taylor Ann Green and Austen Kroll following their reported hookup during an interview on Thursday.
While also sharing where she stands with Rod Razavi, 40, and admitting to going into an “emotional blackout” following the tragic death of her brother, Connor Flowers, in February, the Southern Charm star, 31, admitted that things between her and Taylor, 28, aren’t the same as they once were and confirmed she and Austen, 36, are “friendly.”
“I just heard it as gossip, and I trusted what I was being told by the people I was friends with, and I mean, it really, honestly wasn’t until I had more time with [Shep Rose], and seeing Shep all hot and bothered about something, was a first. That was really when I kinda felt something shift a little bit, and that’s what you see, but I guess I wish I’d paid attention to the signs a little earlier,” Olivia explained to Entertainment Tonight of the news of Taylor and Austen’s alleged encounter.
As Southern Charm fans have seen, Taylor swore on her life that she and Austen didn’t hook up, although the term seems to have a different meaning for her.
“Honestly, my head’s still spinning from it,” Olivia continued. “I haven’t, honestly, processed a lot of things from the season, so I feel like watching it back, I’m gonna be as surprised as the viewers, because I haven’t been caught up with the reality of it.”
Going into filming on season nine, Olivia said her number one priority was keeping her friendship with Taylor intact.
“So a lot of it was me trying to navigate how to best work through things, that she and I work out OK at the end of this, but in this town, everyone’s got an opinion, so I have to balance out what I’m being told from other people … It’s tricky,” she explained.
While Olivia and Taylor were once like “sisters,” Olivia said their current relationship is “surface level,” and she wouldn’t call Taylor a “friend.”
“It’s certainly not what it was before,” she admitted.
That said, after Taylor’s brother, Richard Worthington Green, died in June, Olivia was sure to reach out and let Taylor know she was there for her.
“One thing I learned in this season is that things really get put in perspective,” she shared. “Like, the bullsh*t, surface-level drama, at the end of the day, doesn’t matter as much as the deeper-level things. So, I wanted her to know I was there for that … Just because she and I have gone our separate ways doesn’t necessarily mean there needs to be rocks thrown at her.”
After confirming she went into an “emotional black out” after brother Connor’s death earlier this year (amid production on season nine), Olivia confirmed that when it comes to Austen, the two of them remained “friendly” despite what went down between him and Taylor.
“The shock really came from her, not him unfortunately,” she noted. “[Our] friendship, you’ll see on the season, very up and down. And I just, I don’t know. I kind of feel like I lost two people at once. … I mean, it’s cordial, and that was about as good as it’s gonna get for us.”
Olivia is also currently friendly — and just friendly — with Rod.
“Timing was not out our side,” she said of their potential romance. “But we both appreciate each other’s friendship. I mean, I go to him throughout the entire season just, like, getting advice and what to do.”
Also during the interview, Rod revealed he is friendly with Austen after giving him a “gentlemanly heads-up” about his date with Olivia — after it took place.
“We’re on good terms… now,” Rod teased. “You know, we definitely butt heads throughout the season, and probably rightfully so on his side and my side. You know, we both have our perspectives.”
