In its first public comments since the Thomas Ravenel #MeToo scandal broke in wide circulation earlier this week, executives at Bravo TV say one of their production companies is investigating the 55-year-old Southern Charm star.
“Haymaker, the production company for Southern Charm, and Bravo take allegations like these very seriously,” network executives told People late Friday. “Haymaker is conducting an investigation, and once all the information is gathered and carefully reviewed, appropriate action will be taken.”
Nice end-of-the-week news dump, huh?
Indeed …
The allegations against Ravenel – exclusively reported by this news site more than two weeks ago – appeared in mainstream media outlets across the globe earlier this week. They revolve around Florida-based model and real estate agent Ashley Perkins, who began a social media crusade last month aimed at exposing the former Palmetto State politician.
Ravenel was elected treasurer of South Carolina in 2006, but was forced to step down the following year after being arrested on drug charges. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2004 as a “Republican” and again in 2014 as a petition candidate.
We were the first news site in the country to pick up on Perkins’ allegations … which the 29-year-old Panama City Beach resident has backed up with photos and other supporting information.
Take a look …
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
Perkins wasn’t Ravenel’s alleged victim, though … she claims the Charleston, S.C. playboy sexually assaulted her 53-year-old mother in December 2015. Furthermore, she claims to have participated in a mediation hearing at the Belmond Charleston Place Hotel in June of 2016 in which Ravenel paid her mother $200,000 in exchange for her signature on a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) barring her from discussing the alleged incident.
Perkins told us she was never asked to sign an NDA, however.
“I would have signed one,” she said this week.
Oops, Ravenel lawyers …
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
Shortly after our news site broke this story on April 14, Perkins (above) conducted an extensive interview with us in which she detailed the allegations involving Ravenel and her mother – whose name this website has withheld. Prior to publishing those articles, we were able to link Perkins’ tweets with a series of social media messages sent by the alleged victim to a Southern Charm cast member back in December 2015 – in the immediate aftermath of the alleged attack. We have also obtained Facebook messages in which Ravenel’s alleged accuser reached out to a Columbia, S.C. attorney in the immediate aftermath of the alleged assault.
“He touches every part of my body while I am screaming for him to stop,” the victim wrote in the Facebook message to the lawyer. “He refuses. At some point he manages to free his private parts and shoves it in my face.”
“T-Rav is notorious for that,” the lawyer responded, referring to Ravenel’s nickname.
Furthermore, this week we obtained emails documenting Perkins’ appearance at the June 2016 mediation hearing – which involved legendary feminist attorney Gloria Allred.
According to Perkins, she decided to come forward with her story after seeing Ravenel in a Southern Charm promo earlier this spring.
“Something about seeing the smug look on his face and his exaggerated swagger just hit me the wrong way,” she told us. “All I could think was about the damage he caused my mother emotionally and the toll his actions took on her personally. My Mom will never be the same trusting person again and I blame him for this. When I saw his smug face on the (television) carrying on with his life completely unaffected by his actions, I guess I saw red.”
Ravenel has previously issued a blanket denial to this news site regarding any allegation of sexual assault against a woman.
“I’ve never assaulted a woman in my life,” he told us last month.
Last December – in an interview with Charleston, S.C. based independent journalist Quintin Washington – Ravenel said he would never “behave ungentlemanly” toward a woman. In that same conversation, though, the native Charlestonian specifically referenced “secret settlements” related to sexual assault claims – exactly the sort of settlement he is alleged to have entered into with Perkins’ mother two years ago.
You hear about these secret, um, settlements you know … some woman may come out and say ‘hey, you made an unwarranted advance.’ And they guy may say ‘well I didn’t really do anything, you know, I didn’t do anything untoward however I will pay you to make it so – so you don’t make an allegation.’ Just the mere hint of an allegation could destroy someone.
Of interest? Bravo TV attempted to have this interview removed from the internet.
It could get worse before it gets better for Ravenel, too. As we noted in another recent report related to all of this, “we’re told there are additional headaches headed his way on this front.”
Stay tuned for more on that in future reports …
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