‘Southern Charm’: Kathryn Dennis “Definitely” Wants To Have More Kids With Boyfriend Chleb Ravenell

Kathryn Dennis had a long season on Southern Charm and so to calm her nerves at the Season 7 reunion, she knew just what she needed: her Juul. “It was the thing I had in my hands to play with because I was really nervous. My nerves were bad. I never put it down. I was just like, if I’m here, this is what I need.” And she knew what would be discussed: the social media messages she sent back in the spring that found her on a path of learning about her family’s troubling history and how it ties into the modern Black Lives Matter Movement. It’s a place she accepts herself in today and vows she’s on a mission to learn, grow, and move forward.

Here, we discuss the energy of the reunion, what she’s learned over the past year (and what she’s sure to pass down to her children), where she stands with her cast members today, including Leva Bonaparte and Danni Baird, and the chances of seeing her boyfriend Chleb Ravenell on the next season of the Bravo series — because he’s gonna be around for a while, considering as she says below, she “definitely wants to have kids” with him.

First of all, you look amazing. Part of it might be a happy glow, but tell me about how this bangin’ bod came to be. 

Well, when everything happened on social media, I got really depressed and ended up noticing myself losing a lot of weight. So the only way for me to kind of get healthy again was just to start working out. And I remember being depressed in the past and the only thing that really got me out of it was working out and getting healthy, both physical and mental. So I started working out again. And then with Chleb, he’s really athletic and he plays in a bunch of sports leagues in Charleston. So he’s always encouraging me to get out and be active, we do different things like play basketball. I realized working out and staying fit is part of his life and we’re building a life together, so that’s our lifestyle now.

I do want to talk about him, because it was nice to hear pretty much everybody in the cast saying that they really liked him and that he’s a good guy. Did that mean a lot to you too?

Absolutely, because they’re all saying that from their own experience with him over the years in Charleston, and it just made me happy that people would acknowledge him as someone other than my boyfriend. They would acknowledge him as Chleb, a good person. He is the sweetest guy in the world and most supportive partner ever.

You talked about feeling like a team and being supported by him, how does he make you feel special and comfortable in your relationship?

He makes me feel special because he’s always positive, no matter if I’m feeling a type of way by something I read online or something I saw on an episode. He just stays positive and being around that is just really refreshing. I feel really seen by him, you know? I feel seen on the inside and the outside. He sees me as a person. He gives me the credit, saying he knows that I’m not the person that sent that text, and he’s just so real. He’s real with me, so everything he says to me has so much more meaning.

We’ve all had a lot of conversations in the last year, but has there been anything that he has opened your eyes to in regards to Black Lives Matter?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, there’s no class to take about this matter, just experience. And being around him and his family, friends, especially his mom’s side that are mostly Black, I learned the way they do things and move and the conversations they have amongst each other. It’s sometimes a struggle. So it really simplifies it for me, being around them and experiencing things almost through their eyes. They’ve been more supportive than I could have ever hoped for.

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You really showed a lot of maturity and accountability at the reunion, and I appreciated the moment between you and Leva. Did that feel like a new beginning to you? Do you look back and see anything differently about how you interacted?

The moment at the reunion, we saw each other as real people in this experience. I think she apologized for her part, some of the things that she felt she would have done differently. Us both realizing the things we would have done differently has led us to bonding over that and moving forward, really. And I think that that’s what I’m most thankful for with everything that happened. Although, as a person, that was hard on the receiving end of the things she said. But I know we all make mistakes and that’s one of the things I’m trying to say about myself too, is people make mistakes.

What would have been a better way for your friends to have helped you through this past year? 

Well, they ghosted me. Danni and I have gotten better. We don’t talk as much as we used to, but we’re good now. But yeah, it was really, really hard to see. To feel my friends just ghost me, and I don’t really know what else I could say about it, because they just ghosted me. So I wish they could have done it differently. I wish they would have been my friends when I needed them.

Are there any new emojis that you are now using frequently?

Smiley faces and hearts only!

Have there been lessons or messages or anything that you’ve learned in the past year that you’ve passed down to your kids along the way too?

Well, definitely just being more conscious and aware of the people around you and being open to anyone and everyone, not looking at someone for any other reason than their heart. I think that’s the biggest lesson. I think they see me just living my life better in so many different ways. I’m hoping that experience they’ll take and kind of learn from it.

Did the statue coming down open your eyes to anything else about your town and your family’s history? 

Yeah, I think that it’s a positive wonderful thing for statues that represent anything [negative] to be taken down. [For that to be] one of the first things addressed in our town, I think it made me realize how much more significant the history was here. Even today, how much more significant that history affects people today. Back before the show, we thought we were cool because there’s a statue with your family. We didn’t think about who it was. So yeah, I just really am realizing the significance of that and the importance, or the role that I have, being a descendant of something like this. I feel like I have a responsibility now. I think that I realized it and it’s a beautiful thing that I have this responsibility now.

What did you think about the end of the last episode with the pregnancy scare? Have you given any thought to having more kids someday?

Well, the pregnancy scare made me realize that I’m not done building my family and I do want more kids. So if anything through that experience, I realized, one that I want to have more kids. Two, I definitely want to have kids with Chleb. Oh my gosh, for sure. I’ve never said that to him.

He can read this and learn about it. Those would be beautiful babies.

I know, right? Like the cutest. Season 8!

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How was the energy at the reunion for you, because you were in between Craig and Austen? 

Yes, oh my gosh, it was like being in the middle of stepbrothers. It was a lot. They both have a lot to say and I can tell Craig was trying to speak up for Austen and Austen was having a hard time speaking up for himself. It was like jab, jab, jab, jab.

It was a nice moment when you said to Austen that you understood how hard it is when people are judgemental of your relationship.

Right, and validate him because I think that the guys, they don’t always talk about their emotions and stuff. So they don’t always get validated. So him trying to do that, I can see the struggle. I know what it’s like when people just say to you, you’re wrong, you’re not valid. It will drive you insane, trying to prove it to people.

Was there anything else from this season that you wanted to say to everyone? 

I just want people to know I’m truly sorry and it’s not something that I just want to sweep under the rug. I want to make it clear and learn from my mistakes and I’m ready to come back as the Kathryn everyone knew, and not the old Kathryn, the new Kathryn. I think that this whole thing was a big experience and journey that we learned a lot from and I hope everyone moves in a positive direction because that’s definitely where I’m going and I want to move forward.

Is Chleb open to doing the show, if you do another season?

I’d say he’s open to it. We’ll see. He’s been through a lot with all of his too and he was stressing over the things people say to him. It’s been hard, but I think if I would choose to do it, he would support me, for sure.

Okay, good. I would want to see you guys together on the show.

I know, it would be so much more fun with him.

Southern Charm: Secrets Revealed airs Thursday, February 11 at 8 pm ET/PT on Bravo.

Stream Southern Charm on Bravo Now