NÃO PERCA: ‘Southern Charm’ Star Molly O’Connell Was Warned That Salley Carson And Venita Aspen Would Come For Her This Season: “What The Hell?” 🍿
When Molly O’Connell joined the cast of Southern Charm in Season 10, she was a breath of fresh air. In a male-centric reality show—described by actor Jon Hamm as following “three glorious dummies” who are “bumbling their way through their lives”—O’Connell is well on her way to joining the ranks of witty female cast members like Madison LeCroy and Cameran Eubanks.
Unafraid to partake in a keg stand or feed her pet snake—named Cornholio, if you were wondering—a frozen mouse right from the dinner table, O’Connell has been a standout star since day one. The model, who previously competed on America’s Next Top Model, has been open about her body image struggles, her performance anxiety, and her hidden musical talents (she plays the tuba and sings), making her one of the realest, most unique personalities to join Bravo. While O’Connell initially thought the fanbase wouldn’t understand her, she said it’s “meant a lot” to hear so much positive feedback.
“I was expecting everyone to be like, ‘Who is this weird girl playing her tuba? She has these reptiles. Like, what?’” O’Connell told DECIDER. “I think just because I’m really open about the things that I go through and the maybe odd pastimes that I have, so many people have resonated with it.”
While O’Connell was largely able to stay out of the drama in Season 10—even her few hookups with Shep Rose ended amicably—it looks like Salley Carson and Venita Aspen will be ganging up on her in Season 11. In only the first few episodes, Carson has gossiped about O’Connell’s drinking and vaginal rejuvenation surgery, which she had told her about in private, while Aspen has stirred the pot by telling Carson some of the things O’Connell said about her (and vice-versa). According to O’Connell—who “wasn’t expecting to fight” with either of her co-stars this season—a friend of Aspen’s gave her a heads up that they would be “coming for” her.
“I was like, ‘What the hell?’” O’Connell said, noting that while both Carson and Aspen have since apologized, she hopes that watching the season back and seeing what was said when she wasn’t around will not start a “new fight” now that they have resolved their issues.
When we caught up with O’Connell via Zoom, she also shared whether she’d be open to a future romance with Rose, how she feels about those Jennifer Lawrence comparisons, and why she thinks Craig Conover hasn’t noticed how much Carson is into him. Check out the full interview below.
DECIDER: Before we get into it, I do have some lingering questions from Season 10. As we know, you had a crush on Shep last season, and you guys did end up hooking up a couple of times. What was it that ended your crush on him? And could you see yourself being romantically involved with Shep again in the future?
MOLLY O’CONNELL: I wouldn’t say anything ended my crush on him. I think he had just gotten broken up with. He was very in love with Sienna. He travels a lot. I think it just wasn’t the time. And I think we’re just really, really good as friends. I’m happy with that. I would never close the door completely on that. But I think we just ended up staying friends. It was fun though. He’s definitely a fun time.
It’s probably nice to have something like that that doesn’t end in this big dramatic fallout.
Yeah. Not to say I didn’t have high expectations, but I wasn’t expecting us to seriously date immediately and get married. I knew what he was going through and I was just like, “I mean, if they’re broken up, let’s have some fun.”
You have been described as one of the best things to happen to Southern Charm. What is it like hearing that? Does it surprise you at all how much fans resonate with you?
Yes, I’ve said this a million times. I was expecting everyone to be like, “Who is this weird girl playing her tuba? She has these reptiles. Like, what?” I think just because I’m really open about the things that I go through and the maybe odd pastimes that I have, so many people have resonated with it. A lot with the music stuff and the body image stuff and talking about my thyroid problem, I’ve had so many people reach out just saying, like, “You made me pick up my instrument after 20 years and now I’m playing it again. My child is in band and they were embarrassed and now they see you doing it on TV, they’re like, ‘Oh, my God, this is kind of cool.” It’s meant a lot to me. I was not expecting it at all. So it’s been really, really nice hearing from everyone.
Do fans tell you all of the time that you look like Jennifer Lawrence?
Yes. I didn’t ever really get it. I got it a couple of times. But since I’ve gained a little bit of weight – I used to be underweight, honestly – and I think just obviously the eyes and my hair’s a little longer. I get it, like, every day.
You guys could absolutely pass as sisters.
I want to be her best friend. I think she’s so much fun. And people say even our demeanor and our humor is a little similar. And I’m like, “I feel like we would be best friends.”
Well, she’s a Bravo fan, so it’s possible!
Please, Jennifer, be my friend! Please. I hope you watch Southern Charm.
You shared that your nickname in high school was Frank the Tank. What is the origin story of that nickname?
I used to drink a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. I used to bring my own funnel to parties. I would have a 12 pack of beer and a funnel, and I would just funnel beers the whole time. I’m very good at chugging beer. We got together for powderpuff. We never actually practiced, but we had T-shirts made. So, mine said “The Tank” on the back. That’s how it originated. [When I did] the keg stand, I was like, “This is where I thrive.”
I have to ask about your scene with Kory in the premiere, because he was hardcore coming onto you! What came from that? Did you and Kory ever take things to the next level?
No. He’s a super fun time. I love Kory, he’s a sweetheart. He is very flirty with everyone. I expect someone to be obsessed with me and only me immediately, and if you even look at anyone else, I’ll kill you. Not really. But I’m a little jealous. He was flirty with Salley. I never expected anything to come from that. I was just very, very drunk. And he was giving me a lot of attention, and I was having a lot of fun with it. But, yeah, nothing goes any further than that.
In this week’s episode, we see you attempt to broker peace between Shep and Austen, but Austen doesn’t answer the phone. What do you think it will take to get these three–Craig, Austen, and Shep–on the same page?
I know that Shep’s relationship with the two is a little, especially currently, less volatile than the Austen and Craig relationship. I joke about them needing couples therapy or best friends therapy. Honestly, I don’t know what else would really help because they just have a lot of deep-seated resentments towards each other that I don’t think ever truly get fixed or talked about, maybe to the extent that they should. A very talented therapist. I’ve got a good one. I’ll send them to her.
I really want to get into this whole thing between you and Salley. A lot of fans didn’t think it was cool of Salley to out how drunk you were at the baby shower. Why do you think she did that?
I honestly don’t really know why she did that. I felt like she was coming for me unnecessarily. There was even a friend of ours, specifically Venita, who messaged me and was like, “Salley and Venita are going to come for you this season.” So I was like, “What the hell?” Salley claims that Venita told her to bring it up to Madison. I don’t really know the whole thing, but I wasn’t expecting to fight with Salley this season. And, you know, here we are. So, I’m not really sure of the motives behind it.
In this week’s episode, you say that Salley relies on men to give her validation. What do you think about how hard she’s been going after Craig this season? Does it surprise you that he doesn’t seem to be getting the hint?
I also used to put a lot of my self-worth and everything around validation from men. I’ve very recently in the past few years been like, “Screw that. If someone’s going to be into me, they’re going to be into me for all my weird stuff, and I’m not going to throw myself at anyone.” I can relate to that part of Salley, for sure. I mean, validation from hot men is fun, so I get it. I think Craig just … Charley caught his eye. I think maybe if Charley didn’t get brought into the friend group, that Craig would have given Salley more attention in that way. I don’t know. I mean, it’s very obvious – it should be to him – that she’s into him. So maybe it was just that Charley caught his eye.
As someone who used to sext with Craig, what do you think Salley is doing wrong?
I don’t know. We just started chatting, and that just happened. I didn’t do anything too crazy. I wasn’t throwing myself at him. Maybe he wants someone to play a little more hard to get. And I think Charley does that a little bit. Not necessarily hard to get, but just like, you know, “If you’re into me, I need you to say you’re into me and let’s do this. But I’m not going to throw myself at you.” So I think maybe that is his thing.
Do you think that Venita was stirring the pot by telling Salley about your conversation? Where do you currently stand with the two of them?
I wonder why Venita is doing that. Initially, I was like, “Do they want more screen time? Is this trying to start drama just for the attention?” Because I don’t feel like that’s the craziest thing to be drunk at a party. I’m friends with them. We’re fine. We’re on good terms. They come to my gigs that I’ve been singing recently. Venita has apologized for bringing certain things up. And Salley has as well. We’re on good terms. I don’t like fighting with anyone. I don’t like confrontation. It’s hard to be in this group and not be confronted by a lot of things. So, I think a lot of stuff wouldn’t come up if we weren’t on a show where we talk about everything to each other.
You’ve always been so open about your life, whether it was getting fat transferred from your ankles to your boobs, or introducing the world to your pet snake, or the fact that you play the euphonium. Is there anything else about you that fans would be surprised to find out?
I don’t know, I’m pretty open about most of my things. I think my singing that I’ve started recently, which we will see on the show a little bit. A lot of people were surprised by that. Most of my friends, if they knew me in high school or freshman year of college, knew that I sang. But I quit completely because of performance anxiety for almost 17 years up until this year. So a lot of people were like, “Whoa, I had no idea you sang.” I think that has surprised a lot of people. Other than that, people have thought it’s really funny when I posted a little bit on my social media about I love to go shark tooth hunting, and I love to learn the species names of the sharks and how to identify the species and everything. Like, how old they are and all that. I think it’s kind of obvious I am a nerd from the whole band thing. That’s another one that people are like, “What?” And then they’re like, “Oh, well, you and Shep are meant for each other.” I don’t need him to give me a necklace. I have my own shark teeth.
Your singing is amazing! I’m so happy to hear that we’ll see that this season. What’s your go-to karaoke song?
I used to sing “Killing Me Softly” a lot. I also used to rap “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” But I don’t do that anymore because it’s terrible. I would only do karaoke drunk because I was always so nervous to do it. But yeah, I didn’t do a lot of karaoke. I sang “Killing Me Softly” on Sunday at my most recent gig, so that was really fun.
I saw that Whitney and Shep kind of took the mic from you!
Yes! Whitney and Shep came up. They did “Creep” by Radiohead. And then Whitney did something else. He grabbed the guitar. They came up and made an appearance. Everyone in the crowd had their phones out like, “Oh, my God!” I was like, “Y’all are lucky because they don’t do this every week.” So that was really, really fun.
At Whitner’s literary party, you said you ordered two costumes but Gandalf was the “way better one.” What was the other option?
Handmaid’s Tale. I think it’s very pertinent to what’s going on today. But yeah. Gandalf … I mean, I love Lord of the Rings, so I had to do that. I thought about making it like Slutty Gandalf, but I was like, “That’s too much work. I’m just going to wear this costume from Amazon how it is with the beard and everything.”
You and Madison definitely had the two best costumes.
Madison might have edged me out and won because that was hilarious. I don’t think she told anyone what she was doing, so she came and I was like, “I don’t know who that is.” And then once she explained it and showed the book, I was like, “OK, you win.”
What else can you tease about the rest of this season? Anything you’re excited for? Dreading?
I’m dreading the Salley [fight] and Venita and I also get into it a little bit. I don’t love that. I’m not there for all the filming. I’m there for the cast events and whatever. But I don’t know what they said behind my back. Seeing that is always a little nerve wracking. Like, what are they going to say? Is this going to start a new fight now that we’ve kind of resolved our issues at this point? So, that’s always stressful to watch and wonder what’s going to happen. But I’m definitely excited for my singing and that journey because it was really, really scary for me to do. I’m definitely facing my fears. But I had the support of all of the cast, so that was really fun. I’m excited for that.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Southern Charm airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
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