Austen Weighs in on Craig & Paige's Long-Distance Status: "It May Not Be the Popular Opinion, But..."
The Southern Charm cast member shared his unfiltered thoughts on Craig Conover and Paige DeSorbo's living arrangement.
Paige DeSorbo and Craig Conover are getting ready to celebrate their two-year anniversary. How time flies ... when you're flying back and forth between Charleston and New York on a near-weekly basis!
While the Summer House and Southern Charm cast members (who became close while filming Winter House) might live in different cities, they're never apart for long. Still, their long-distance relationship status seems to have some people questioning whether they can make their romance last — and Austen Kroll, Craig's close friend and Pillows and Beer co-host — has some thoughts.
A little background: Paige lives in New York, while Craig just finished renovating a home in Charleston. Though they're based in different cities, the lovebirds make it a priority to spend time together. On a recent Amazon Live, Paige said: "It definitely depends on the week, but the longest I've ever gone without seeing [Craig], I think, is 14 days. Not even, maybe it was 11 days."
Read on for more details.
Austen Kroll weighs in on Craig Conover and Paige DeSorbo's long-distance relationship
While chatting with Decider, Austen shared his own opinion on the bi-city setup. "Look, this is what I will say about Craig and Paige," Austen began. "It may not be the popular opinion, but I just think the long distance thing is working for them. Someone like Paige likes to have her space, and ... New York is seemingly far away, but door to door it’s like three hours."
Austen continued: "Craig makes a lot of time to go up [to New York], especially in the summer — he basically lived there — and if that is working for them, then I don’t even know why it’s a question. I don’t know why everyone is poking and prodding as to whether they’re happy or not because she doesn’t want to move to Charleston? So what! They’re not even engaged yet, she doesn’t have to move to Charleston. To me, if it’s working then don’t fix it. And in my opinion, it’s working."
Craig has also spoken up on the long-distance situation. "By repeating that conversation over and over [on the shows], it does make it look like we have issues because it looks like we really, really care about [or] that we're not OK with our current situation, and we just are," Craig said on the September 28 episode of the Chicks in the Office podcast. "The balance of going up and back [between] two great cities, New York and Charleston, we're just happy."
Though Craig had previously shared plans to propose to Paige by Thanksgiving 2023, he has since abandoned that timeline. "You can either have the quick excitement, fairy-tale romance or you can focus on this sustainable relationship," Craig told Entertainment Tonight. "[Paige] has definitely slowed me down in those points."
"Look, I'm a romantic at heart. I can't wait for that day," he added. "I think me working on myself has really helped me see the relationship in a clearer way, so I think we're closer [to an engagement.]"
See more of Craig and Paige on Southern Charm.
