‘Southern Charm’: Austen Kroll Details ‘Tough’ Reunion with Olivia Flowers After Her Brother Died
Southern Charm star Austen Kroll has opened up about reuniting with his ex, Olivia Flowers, after her brother, Conner, died back on January 30 at just 32 years old.
Appearing on Thursday’s (November 2) episode of Watch What Happens Live, Kroll told host Andy Cohen, “It was very tough for me because I felt like I should be the one who is there for her, but I’ve obviously chosen not to be that person, and then this tragedy happens and I’m known to be an overthinker.”
Kroll and Flowers had broken up in late 2022, months before Conner passed away. However, despite trying to keep his distance, Kroll explained it was the right thing to be there for her, especially as he, too, had lost a sibling. Kroll’s sister passed away when he was just seven years old.
“I was like, ‘This is not that time to be the overthinker that you are, so just shut up and do what you know you should do and go and see her and hug her.'”
A choked-up Kroll said his reunion with Flowers was “kind of like a moment I’ll never forget,” noting that he’d missed her on the first day after her brother passed and then couldn’t get in touch with her.
But as soon as she called him, Kroll said he was “out the door, and I ran down to see her, and we just had this rom-com movie moment of just like meeting in the driveway and collapsing into each other, and it was just a moment you can’t really describe.”
Olivia Flowers and her brother Conner; Instagram
Ahead of Kroll’s appearance on WWHL, Page Six shared the coroner’s report for Conner, which revealed he’d gotten out of rehab two days before his death. The report stated he was found near a syringe with “red liquid” and a “clear plastic bag containing a green powder residue,” noting the official cause of death as an accidental overdose of fentanyl.
Earlier this week, Flowers told People that her brother suffered from Lymes disease and used opioids to help manage the debilitating pain.
“He started depending, at a very young age, on this prescription medicine to feel normal,” she explained. “And we as a family started to see this toll it took on his body. He always maintained that he had a problem. It was never a fight to get him to go to rehab; anytime my parents would get him help, it was because he asked for it.”
“It’s really difficult to speak on,” the reality star continued. “People, when they hear words like ‘rehab’ or ‘drugs,’ they assume the worse. But these weren’t substances he turned to for partying. This was medicine. This is what made him feel normal.”
