Entertainment

Here's The Scoop On Craig & Naomie's Relationship After 'Southern Charm'

Paul Cheney/Bravo

Breaking up is hard to do and seeing your ex when you’re out and about is harder still. But imagine being contractually obligated to hang out with them because you’re on a reality television show together. While you’re getting paid to sit there with them, you still have to sit there with them, and that’s what Craig and Naomie are starting to realize on Southern Charm. They had a messy relationship and a messy breakup, and now, they’re trying to navigate a world that’s called “being civil to an ex.” Are Craig and Naomie friends after Southern Charm and their ugly split?

At the end of last season, it was obvious that Craig and Naomie weren’t right for each other. He was listless after law school, deciding to focus on sewing instead of taking the bar exam and becoming a lawyer like he had always planned. Naomie would get angry at Craig’s inaction, and they were in this terrible cycle of screaming at each other, both in public and behind closed doors. Their breakup was really for the best, and it was the right decision, but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy. Craig has spent most of Season 5 moping, thinking that he and Naomie were getting back together. Naomie has been processing her broken heart by drinking wine with her girlfriends, spilling the tea on JD and Elizabeth’s marriage, and yelling at any woman who gets close to Craig. Yeah, it hasn’t been great for either of them.

But we may have just reached a nice little milestone — on the May 24 episode of Southern Charm, Naomie went to Craig’s house and told him that she was going to be nice from now on, and she was going to really work at having a civil relationship. This makes sense, because, you know, they have to film together. It all was fine on their trip to Hilton Head with the group until Craig tried to give Naomie a contact lens case she left that wasn’t hers? I don’t know — I think Craig has no emotional maturity sometimes. He’s not very astute on picking up signals. In any case, right now on the show, they’re doing OK.

What about in real life, though? Craig told US Weekly, “We’re civil, like if we see each other we’ll say hi, but I don’t think we’ve said anything more than ‘Hi’ in a couple months.” That’s fairly normal. What doesn’t seem that normal is that Craig feels the need to comment on Naomie in the press still. Naomie recently got a nose job (she’s been very open with it), and, on Watch What Happens Live, Craig told Andy Cohen, “I cried because I liked her old nose better. I’m happy for her, because she’s happy, but it was a lot.”

I mean, you can cry, Craig, but I’m not sure why you’re sharing this with the public since it’s none of your business, anyway. On the news that Naomie has a new boyfriend, Charleston anesthesiologist Metul Shah, Craig told PEOPLE that he was happy for Naomie and, “I knew him before. It’s what she wanted. She wanted someone with, like, a very structured job, with a real job. Her making it official was weird, but they had been together for a while.” Why does that sound like an insult, coming from Craig?

Craig and Naomie are broken up, and even though they’re civil, they’re definitely not pals. They’re not hanging out. Naomie has moved on with a new man, and Craig needs to do the same — he should focus on his new sewing ventures and maybe that whole “being a lawyer” thing instead of talking about his ex to the press. It’s time to move on.