Taylor Ann Green shared how she’s handling the backlash surrounding her kiss with good friend Olivia Flower’s ex-boyfriend Austen Kroll – who happens to be good friends with Taylor’s ex Shep Rose.
Amid the chaos, the Southern Charm star accused Madison LeCroy of trying to be “relevant,” explained her “risqué” photo to Whitney Sudler-Smith, and discussed her new relationship with boyfriend Gaston Rojas.
Speaking to TV Insider, Taylor addressed what it’s been like to relive the drama as the season airs.
“It has been really, really tough. It’s one thing to go through a bunch of stuff but to have all these eyes on you while you’re going through heartache and rough times. Everyone is weighing in,” she said. “I know I did it to myself, but it has been tough hearing the background chatter. I’ve been trying to stay disconnected and not read comments and stay off social media. Shep actually advised me to do that and set it up where I don’t get notifications or tags. Stuff like that. We’re only human. We make mistakes.”
She went on to say, “I think a lot of people forget I didn’t have time to process the breakup between Shep and I. He was out of the country, and when he came back into the country, it was this whole bunch of emotions that came back around. The time he was gone and out of the country, I was acting silly and making mistakes. I own up to it. Then obviously, when cameras hit the ground everyone has to talk about it. Then I get to relive it here 10 months later.”
When asked about Madison’s involvement in the hookup drama, Taylor expressed, “The frustrating thing was when all that transpired, the only people that were involved were me, Austen, and then Olivia and Shep. The fact that other people are weighing in, it’s not their business. It has nothing to do with them. Why are you trying to get up in this business and create more drama out of it? How do you know anything when I haven’t seen or talked to you? You don’t know the real story.”
She continued, “So, making allegations we slept together. I don’t even think Madison has been to his house. The fact she is saying he doesn’t have a bed in his guest bedroom. He has two guest bedrooms and there are two beds in the guest bedroom. She doesn’t know that. Making allegations when she is not completely involved is very frustrating.”
The star added, “I understand I lied about it. I get that’s where the frustration is coming from. After that is all done and said, and I admit to my fault. I admit I lied and hurt a friend and ex along the way. You’ll see as the season goes on, but it just seems it’s not enough.”
Taylor also revealed why she hastily told Olivia about the kiss at Shep’s party. “That morning I had begged her to meet up with me,” she stated. “I told her I really needed to tell her something as I didn’t want her to walk into this dinner feeling blindsided in front of all our friends and feeling like the only person not knowing what was going on. She said we could wait and have the conversation at dinner. I wished I had pulled her aside to maybe a different room, but I had to get it off my chest. I didn’t want it to come from anyone else because this group likes to chat. I was a little overambitious. I regret that part, but I wish I had relaxed a little bit, but I wanted her to be the first one she heard about it from.”
Regarding the allegedly nude photo she sent Whitney Sudler-Smith, Taylor shared, “Yeah it is a risqué photo, but you can’t see anything. That is the cold hard truth. The fact that Madison is trying to say you can see everything is completely false. You cannot. That’s Madison trying to be Madison and trying to stay relevant and make it out to be worse than it was. At the same, time why are you sharing things? Yes, it was a drunken mistake. Yes, it was a jab at Shep. I’ve owned up to that. I’m not trying to hide anything. I was in a bad place in my life. Going through that breakup and not really processing. Hearing Shep and Whitney are going around town hooking up with girls and bringing it back to Whitney’s house, I drunkenly sent a risque photo jabbing at Shep.”
Taylor eventually shared if her castmates reached out to her after her own brother passed away – following the passing of Olivia’s brother Connor.
“When everything happened with Connor, I was so taken aback. I wanted to be there for Olivia as a friend…Now having to experience what Olivia experienced, I couldn’t even fathom sitting in a room full of people talking,” she said. “I heard from everybody in the group. Absolutely. They all sent out texts. That’s the extent of it.”
Regarding her new boyfriend Gaston, Taylor shared, “He is super great. He is like, ‘I want nothing to do with that part of your life. That’s your world. I’m here to listen if you need to cry or vent. I don’t have much advice for you other than it’s going to be okay.’ We’ve been busy traveling and at the farm to see my sister and her family. We were just in North Carolina for a family reunion. He has been a great support system with all my friends and family.”
