Craig Conover Shares the Status of His Friendship With Shep Rose in Exclusive Interview

Southern Charm star Craig Conover is spilling the tea on his friendship with fellow cast member Shep Rose. Both Conover and Rose are the only cast members who have starred on the Bravo show since the first season in 2014. Just like other friendships, Conover and Rose have had their ups and downs.

The two friends have had a rocky friendship, but they have reconciled on the latest season of Southern Charm. Conover recently shared with Heavy that he and Rose are still important people in each other’s lives.

“It all circled around accepting each other for who they were,” Conover told Heavy. “And we just accepted that we’re extremely different people.”

Conover added that their relationship got better once Rose accepted Conover’s lifestyle, including focusing on sewing, gardening, and now podcasting. “I mean on all points of the spectrum we’re just very different, and we see things very differently, and once we accepted that about each other, it was this calmness [that] came over our relationship,” Conover told Heavy. “It’s a very sibling relationship, which I know you guys have seen and stuff, but it’s the way it is.”

Conover Suggested Rose Needed Time to Accept Him

The two Southern Charm stars struggled with Conover’s career change when he transitioned from becoming a lawyer to starting his own pillow and sewing company Sewing Down South.

“It’s two people that are in the same world, and they were forced together, but they love each other, and we’re happy we’re in each others lives,” Conover shared with Heavy. “I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. Like we love each other to death, and I think it just took him a long time to accept that I was just different, and once he did and let me live, that was great.”

Conover added, “He’ll tell you it was out of concern for me, so it maybe it took seeing a little bit of success from my side for him to be like, ‘I don’t know he’s crazy, and I don’t understand it but he’s got it figured out, so it’s cool.’”

Conover Credited Rose’s New Girlfriend for a Shift in His Personality

Rose began dating girlfriend Taylor Ann Green in early 2020, so the two are coming around to the one-year mark. Shortly after dating, COVID-19 hit and even helped the couple get closer. “We were dating for a few months and then quarantine happened, so we basically became like a married couple after like three months,” Rose told E! in late October. “It was a shock to the system, no doubt about it.”

While Southern Charm was filming, Green contracted COVID-19, along with Conover and his girlfriend, Natalie Hegnauer. The three quarantined together until they all tested negative. Conover told Heavy, “Taylor has been great, because ever since he started dating her, he’s really become a happier version of himself, and like nice Shep is a really fun person to be around.”

Conover continued saying that his relationship with Rose is always changing, but it’s also better than in the past. “Basically, it’s two brothers, and it used to be two brothers that didn’t talk much, [but] if they saw each other at Christmas, they’d hang out, but over the past two to three years, we’ve just become apart of each other’s lives and we’re some of each other’s best friends, but there has been some ups and downs. I mean we all have our flaws, but he gets in dark places sometimes, and he takes it out on me.”

While the two have had their ups and downs, Conover stands by that he is grateful for his friendship with Rose. “I definitely wouldn’t be the same if he wasn’t part of the equation,” Conover told Heavy. “We’re part of each other’s lives now.”

READ NEXT: Shep Rose’s Cheating Scandal With Girlfriend Taylor Ann Green