Southern Charm’s Venita Aspen Says Her Heart Was ‘Shattered’ After JT Thomas Rejected Her, Never Disclosed Girlfriend

Things haven’t quite gone as planned in the love department for Venita Aspen on this season of Southern Charm.

On the Feb. 6 episode of the Bravo series, Venita, 31, caught up with Leva Bonaparte over the phone about how it went when she laid out her feelings for Jarrett “JT” Thomas during dinner at her apartment the previous night. The confession came after Venita’s relationship with Manny Houston ended months earlier due to him moving to New York City.

“He said he has a girlfriend,” Venita informed Leva, 45, of JT.

That outraged Leva. “What?” the restaurant owner said. “But wait, he said you were cute while he had a girlfriend? Jerk! I’m so mad at this loser.”

Leva also didn’t quite believe JT. “JT can’t possibly have a girlfriend,” she said in a confessional interview. “We’re around him all the time. You would think of all this time we’ve spent together he would be like, ‘So I started dating somebody.’ But like, he’s never said he has a girlfriend.”

Venita explained that she wouldn’t have confessed her feelings to JT, who has since resigned from the Southern Charm cast, had she known about his girlfriend. “I would have never leaned in like that,” the fashion influencer said to Leva. “I could’ve kept my feelings to myself. You did not have to know I felt that way.”

Venita told Leva she felt “annoyed” but ultimately “fine.”

“I definitely feel like a little piece of my heart’s kind of like, shattered,” Venita admitted to the cameras. “It’s just like, oh you know, I thought that, okay, JT actually likes me. But like, okay, we’re not crossing lines. We’re going to be friends. Like, this is where were the best at is being friends.”

Later in the episode, another relationship seemed to take a hit, too. When Craig Conover and Paige DeSorbo went to a bee farm to pick out bees to start a hive in his yard, the conversation turned to having kids.

“I definitely feel a little pressure,” Paige said to Craig. “I’m only 31. Sometimes, I’m not gonna lie, sometimes you make me feel like I’m 75.”

Craig, 35, felt that “our pace is good,” but, “I just don’t want you to put stuff off too long where you like, I need to make another million before I have a baby, or I need to launch another company before I have a baby.”

“I don’t feel like that at all, but I want to be allotted what you were allotted,” Paige responded. “And at 31, no one said to you, ‘Hey Craig, have you thought about having a baby? And when is that going to happen?'” 

Craig admitted in a confessional interview that he envisioned being a dad by this point in his life. “But you don’t get to write out your life,” he acknowledged. “Relationships are about compromise and there has to be give and take.”

Paige doubled down on her stance. “If you said to me right now, ‘We need to have a baby or I’m leaving,’ you’d have to leave,” the Summer House star said to Craig at the farm.

But Craig didn’t feel like he’d issued an ultimatum. “I don’t put any pressure on you,” he said. “I just want to be like, lovey-dovey and talk about our family.”

The topic of Craig and Paige’s future came up again when the Sewing Down South founder attended a dinner at Patricia Altschul’s house with her son Whitney Sudler-Smith, Ryan Albert, Austen Kroll and Shep Rose. Patricia, 83, told Craig “it would be interesting if you propose” to Paige.

“We’re going to get married,” he assured. “Whenever we want, it’s not set. Everyone forgets I haven’t asked her yet.”

The guys kept pushing Craig to propose, but Craig said, “We’re not really letting the ceremonial stuff keep us from living our lives.” The Pillow Talk author also revealed that he and Paige started picking out engagement rings.

“I’m gonna propose soon,” he insisted. “No, I mean like, soon as in, probably by the end of the year. Between us, I showed her a sheet of rings, then I said, ‘Pick your favorite.’ She picked two that were my favorite.”

Pat asked what Paige selected, and he shared that she went for “an emerald cut and an elongated cushion.”

Then Whitney, 56, wondered if Craig would want Paige to move from New York City to South Carolina after they got engaged.

“We don’t know where we’re going to end up,” Craig said. “But we’re not going to let that ruin the happiness of today.”

In December, Paige announced on her Giggly Squad podcast that she and Craig ended their relationship after three years together.

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Southern Charm airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.