Craig Conover Addresses Cheating Rumors, Says Paige DeSorbo Breakup Wasn’t ‘Mutual’

Conover was a guest on Watch What Happens Live Thursday, where he was asked about DeSorbo’s claims that she “never cheated physically or emotionally” during their relationship.

When asked by host Andy Cohen whether the Southern Charm star “cosigned” DeSorbo’s comments regarding the rumors of infidelity, Conover neither confirmed or denied as he tried to distance himself from the online chatter.

“I don’t want to be involved,” Conover replied. “I got broken up with. I’m the ex-boyfriend, moving on with my life. I’m not going to get sucked into the mud with them. Her cast … like, commenting on how I am grieving and that I’m sorry that I’m not reading Reddit everyday, getting on there and defending her. Like, I never said you cheated, so I’m not a part of this.”

Conover also weighed in on DeSorbo and her Giggly Squad co-host Hannah Berner’s remarks that he had a responsibility to defend her publicly following their split.

“I didn’t tell her what to say. I got a text and she said, ‘I’m announcing it on my podcast.’ And then she said it was mutual, which it wasn’t, I didn’t know about it, she called me and told me,” he added, further fueling rumors that he was blindsided by the breakup.

Conover continued, “It’s been a whirlwind, but I’ve been sitting in it, listening to people be like, ‘Love isn’t enough.’ Guess what? Love is enough and I hate that I’m being drawn into that. If two people love each other, you’ll make it work.”

“For all the long-distance people watching … like, we didn’t want different things, she just wanted other people and that’s fine,” he added, addressing all the long-distance couples tuning in. “She didn’t want those things with me anymore and I’m not mad at her for that but I don’t like this ‘love isn’t enough’ thing because you’ll make it work.”

Conover has remained largely quiet since DeSorbo announced the pair’s breakup in December 2024, with Paige claiming that they called it quits after three years together during an episode of her Giggly Squad podcast.

At the time, DeSorbo claimed “no one did anything” and shared her hope that she and Craig would “remain friends.”

She continued, “I think we both were just being really mature and saying what we want and what we didn’t want, and I think that’s extremely powerful to be able to voice how you’re feeling in real-time and what you want for your future. … I think it is the right decision for both of us.”

Conover broke his silence on the split just days into January, calling the breakup “unexpected.”

“Sorry about the delay, this has all been very, very unexpected to say the least,” he said in an Instagram Story video last month. “But I guess I gotta start living again, whatever that looks like. Whatever my new normal looks like — I have to start.”

While he added that he was “very shocked” by the breakup, which he said happened “right before the holidays,” he told told his followers that he was “still processing everything” and thanked them for the “kind messages.”

Conover’s comments were followed by a sighting of the Summer House star spending time with a man at a Philadelphia Eagles game. Theories also swirled online that she had moved on with Saturday Night Live star Marcello Hernandez, which she denied.

While DeSorbo maintained her single status on her podcast, Conover’s Southern Charm co-star Austen Kroll came to his defense — albeit adding fuel to the fire — when he appeared on WWHL last week and claimed that the rumors about DeSorbo dating someone new were “substantiated” and that Conover had “fully come to terms” with it.

DeSorbo clapped back at Kroll’s accusations via social media before addressing them on her podcast, where she once again broke down the timeline of her and Conover’s split.

“Let me say this here and now: I did not move on with some new guy. I’m single. I don’t have a new boyfriend. I did not cheat not on my ex-boyfriend,” she said during Monday’s episode, adding that not only did she “never physically” cheat on Conover, she didn’t “emotionally” cheat on her ex either.

While DeSorbo added that she didn’t want to engaged in a “back-and-forth” in the public eye while healing from the split, she felt the need to make the timeline crystal clear, telling listeners, “Since no one’s sticking up for me on the other side … perpetuating even more rumors, I will say that Craig and I broke up Thanksgiving weekend. OK? That’s at the end of November.”

DeSorbo said she gave Conover permission to act “as if we were still together” while promoting season 10 of Southern Charm, but decide to announce the news after she saw Conover appear to “act single” during a ski trip to Aspen.

She continued, “I saw that my ex-boyfriend was on a trip presenting himself as single,” she said Monday. “And I said, ‘Oh, here we go, We’re ready to announce.’ I then texted [him] whilst he was on this trip and said I’m going to say something on Giggly Squad and we can both start moving forward. It’s been a full month now. My text went unanswered. … Once he goes on a trip and [is] being single, I said, ‘OK, well I can’t deceive the public any longer.'”

As for those claims, Conover said that the only thing he did in Aspen was “talk about my breakup because I couldn’t believe it was happening.”