Taylor Ann Green and Craig Conover Clash on Southern Charm Season 9 Premiere (Recap)

Finally, Southern Charm Season 9 is here. And the cast is dealing with, just, so much baggage.

One of the central issues is Shep Rose and Taylor Ann Green’s breakup. That split had a butterfly effect. And there are lingering, unresolved hurts.

At Madison Lecroy’s wedding afterparty (she’s married, remember?), Taylor confronted Craig Conover. Basically, she felt like Craig treated Shep’s cheating like a joke. That he treated her like a joke.

The result was that Craig ended up more or less screaming at Taylor. He thinks that she’s angry at the wrong person. Is she?

Obviously, so much went down on the Southern Charm Season 9 premiere.

And that was before they even arrived at Madison Lecroy’s friend’s home. Brittany opened the doors of her sprawling home to guests and to production, to film Madison’s wedding afterparty.

And then plenty happened at the party itself before Taylor and Craig faced off.

But the true meat of the premiere was when Taylor, after speaking to Shep Rose (awkwardly) and getting support from Austen Kroll, spoke to Craig.

“I will say, from my perspective, the way that you approached our breakup was really shitty,” she told Craig.

Shep had been trying to get Craig and Austen to leave with him to avoid just such a confrontation.

“We used to be friends,” Taylor told him.

“I haven’t heard from you,” she said. Others, in contrast, had reached out.

“You didn’t even talk to me,” a very hurt Taylor told him.

Last year, we heard all about Taylor and Shep’s breakup.

She accused him of cheating on her with a string of different women.

Shep objected to that characterization. He wasn’t saying that he didn’t cheat. Just, in his mind, he didn’t mean to — he wasn’t calling women to come over when she wasn’t there.

That is a distinction … but doesn’t change what he did to her.

Anyway, Taylor noted that she had received support from surprising sources. She’s never been besties with Madison, but Madison messaged her after the split.

Meanwhile, Craig didn’t even check in. That hurt.

“You called Austen and laughed about Shep trying to cheat on me,” Taylor accused.

She grew tearful as the conversation continued.

“You laughed about it,” she reiterated.

Craig didn’t feel like this was a fair characterization. He also denied laughing over the cheating (though perhaps he did laugh at Shep in some capacity).

Instead, he claimed that he actually “stopped” Shep from kissing another woman.

According to him, he sat Shep down in an effort to get the guy to snap out of it. (Shep, it seems, does not remember some of his cheating … which is a whole other problem)

But Craig apparently saw this as some sort of bro code issue.

In his mind, Taylor was his “friends’ girlfriend” and so he couldn’t “go behind his back” and rat him out to Taylor.

“The girls have had my back … the only guy who’s had my back is Austen,” Taylor noted.

Basically, Craig felt like his closer friendship with Shep and some sort of weird gender divide meant hat he couldn’t be a better friend to Taylor.

Meanwhile, Taylor clearly feels like she was essentially a joke. She feels like a fool because of Shep’s cheating, and worries that other people in the group see her the same way.

It’s a complex, painful situation. And it didn’t need to happen.

“You weren’t there the night he did it,” Craig said growing defensive.

“I threw him through a f–king wall,” he then yelled. Madison’s party didn’t really need this intense discussion.

“Screw you,” Craig spat. “I didn’t cheat on you my f–king friend did.”

Then, Taylor took this to a weird place.

“What about your girl cheating on you?” she asked as he walked off. Does she mean Paige DeSorbo?

Ignoring her, Craig fired back: “You’re embarrassing yourself.” He’s certainly right about that.

Obviously, Taylor is in a lot of pain. She did embarrass herself, and it wasn’t all about Shep or Craig, either.

Just a little etiquette reminder: check with someone before you gift them a vibrator. Especially at a public party. Even if you’re not on camera.

They can be wonderful gifts! But literally just check first. Maybe have a public gift and a private gift if that’s what they need. Come on, girl. Get it together.