Thomas Ravenel – the embattled star of Bravo TV’s Southern Charm – announced on social media this week that he would not be returning for a sixth season of the hit reality television program.
“I’m not doing the show anymore,” Ravenel wrote on his Instagram page. “In the contract they have the right to fictionalize your story. They took advantage of me. I decided I’ve got too much to lose and informed them I’m not coming back.”
Ravenel’s declaration – widely believed to be a preemptive move – comes after months of speculation surrounding his future on the Charleston, S.C.-based program.
Several cast members have told us privately that network executives already determined Ravenel would not be returning – and that his decision to quit was nothing more than a face-saving move.
In fact one outlet – Radar Online – is reporting that Ravenel was fired months ago.
“The production company decided to let Thomas go,” a source told the website. “They made the decision to fire him before filming wrapped. That’s also why he wasn’t allowed to go to the reunion.”
Ravenel was indeed conspicuously absent from Southern Charm cast reunion program last month, citing advice from his attorneys amid an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of sexual assault.
The 55-year-old playboy has been accused sexually assaulting two women. The first allegations were made (and reinforced) by Florida-based model and real estate agent Ashley Perkins. According to the 29-year-old, she was present for a mediation hearing at the Belmond Charleston Place Hotel in June of 2016 in which Ravenel settled a sexual assault allegation involving her mother, a 53-year-old Florida real estate agent.
Perkins’ story broke exclusively on this news site.
Shortly thereafter, this news site exclusively reported on the Charleston police department’s investigation into another alleged assault involving Ravenel. That same week, guest columnist Amy Feinstein published an exclusive interview with Nanny Dawn – the woman whose meeting with Charleston detectives launched the criminal probe.
[timed-content-server show=’2018-Jan-17 00:00:00′ hide=’2018-Oct-22 00:00:00′](SPONSORED CONTENT – STORY CONTINUES BELOW)
[/timed-content-server]Ravenel’s announcement about his future on Southern Charm came just hours after he appears to have cleansed his social media pages of all references to Ashley Jacobs – his girlfriend on the fifth season of the show.
Jacobs’ Instagram page also appears to have been cleansed of any reference to Ravenel.
“I am who I am today because of my failures,” she wrote in her first post-Ravenel entry. “I am compassionate because I’ve failed. I am understanding because I’ve failed. I am more emotionally aware because I’ve failed. I’m smarter because I’ve failed. And I understand the values and beliefs of the things that matter in life because of those failures. So I would never take them back. I would never go back in time and change a single thing. As C.S. Lewis stated so beautifully, ‘You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.'”
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our stories? Please feel free to submit your own guest column or letter to the editor via-email HERE. Got a tip for us? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE. Want to support what we’re doing? SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Banner: Bravo TV