NBCUMV Austen Kroll has a new feud this season, and it's not with Shep Rose.
Southern Charm star Austen Kroll is weighing in on Cameran Eubanks leaving the show and cheating allegations made against her husband, Jason Wimberly. Eubanks – who has appeared on the show since its beginning – announced in May that she would not be returning to the reality show.
Eubanks announced her departure shortly after AllAboutTeTea.com posted a story alleging her husband had been having a two-year affair with a Charleston makeup artist. Eubanks and Wimberly share a 3-year-old daughter Palmer Corinne. The two have been married since 2014, and Wimberly rarely appeared on Southern Charm.
The 36-year-old reality star has denied the allegations and that they affected her decision to leave. Eubanks posted a lengthy statement to Instagram on May 13. “It has come to my attention that insidious rumors are now spreading and fake articles being written… some of which pertain to my marriage,” Eubanks wrote in her statement. Wimberly and his alleged mistress have both denied the affair as well.
Austen Kroll Was Surprised Cameran Eubanks Didn’t Appear on the Show
Southern Charm’s Kathryn Dennis mentioned that she had heard about the alleged affair to Craig Conover on the season premiere. Conover immediately dismissed the rumor, but Dennis continued to talk about it. Since Eubanks decided to not return to the show, she didn’t address it directly with viewers, and costar Austen Kroll was surprised by the decision.
“Honestly, I told myself prior to watching the first episode, I was like, ‘I won’t be surprised if Cam is on here somewhere addressing this to somebody,’” Kroll told Us Weekly on Wednesday, November 4.
Kroll then compared her situation to his situation last season when his girlfriend Madison LeCroy caught him with two other women on video. “I can speak from experience,” Kroll told Us Weekly. “Last year, Madison [LeCroy] and I were together and I was like, ‘Look, if we don’t talk about this video [of me allegedly cheating], then no one else will.’ Boy, was I wrong, you know what I mean? Like, everyone’s talking about it. They showed it six times an episode of the first five episodes. I was like, ‘Wow.’”
The 33-year-old Kings Calling Brewing Co. founder added that he wished he handled the situation differently. “Our very first conversation on camera together should have been about that, faced it head on,” Kroll said. “Then, it would have kind of died, maybe. We were like, ‘Wait, if we don’t talk about it and maybe it won’t be [a big deal],’ and that’s not the way to go about it.”
Kroll admitted he thought Eubanks would handle her situation more directly than he and LeCroy. “I thought that Cam would have wanted to potentially come on and set the record straight, you know?” he told Us Weekly. “I can’t tell if I’m like, ‘Why didn’t you do that?’ Or, if she’s like, ‘I don’t give a s*** what y’all say about me.’ So, I don’t know if I should, like, applaud her or think that she played it wrong.”
Craig Conover Revealed His Feelings Towards Cameran Eubanks’ Departure
Cameran Eubanks was one of the few Southern Charm cast members who stayed on the show since the beginning, along with Shep Rose, Craig Conover, and recurring roles from Kathryn Dennis and Danni Baird. When Eubanks announced her departure, many fans were shocked, and Conover even told Us Weekly that he was, “blindsided” and “heartbroken.”
“I know that she enjoyed doing it with us, you know, me and her and Shep [Rose] had been together since the beginning,” Conover told Us Weekly on Friday, October 23. “So that was tough, but I have a sneaky feeling that I would be able to get her back next year, but we’ll see what happens.”
When Dennis told Conover about the rumors she had regarding the affair, it left him feeling uneasy. “Then, you know, Kathryn dropped that bomb on me, that was the craziest feeling that I’ve ever had on the show and maybe in life,” Conover told Us Weekly. “I mean, it felt like I got punched in the stomach. There was just so much to unpack when she said that to me.”
READ NEXT: Shep Rose Talks Quitting Southern Charm