This news will hardly be a surprise to Southern Charm viewers. Shep Rose has made it very clear over the years that he has no desire or intention to settle down. The most domesticated we’ve seen him is being a doggie dad to little Craig.
Taylor Ann Green managed to hold him down the past two years, but the cracks have been showing on the latest season of Southern Charm. She’s looking for some return on her investment, a.k.a a commitment, and has expressed her desire to have children.
So, without revelation, People reported that Shep and Taylor have recently parted ways. Quoted sources point to Shep’s continued refusal to commit as the reason. “Shep has a real issue with monogamy and refused to commit to Taylor, telling her that he doesn’t want to be with just one person and change his lifestyle,”the source said.
Another source claimed that, though devastated, Taylor is putting the break up into perspective. “She’s incredibly hurt, but she knows that she deserves a guy who will fight for her, not one who is so selfish,” the source commented. “He’ll regret this.”
Taylor and Shep could not be reached for comment, but viewers of Southern Charm have heard their perspectives already. It’s reality TV after all. The discontent went as far back as the Season 7 reunion when Shep admitted, “there was some text messages” with another woman who he described as, “an old flame.” Then there was a physical indiscretion, that Taylor also accepted at the time. The Average Expectations author admitted, “I kissed a girl in a stairwell, but that’s all it was.”
On Season 8, the foreshadowing continued with a pregnancy “scare.” The contrast in reactions between the duo was very telling. While Taylor mourned, Shep celebrated that he would indeed not be a father.
“You’re gonna high five to my pain and misery?” Taylor said during the episode. “You didn’t even ask how I felt. You just thought, like, ‘Oh, no, there was a scare. What am I gonna do?’ Like, you haven’t ever really said, ‘If you things were to ever happen, you can trust in me.’”
Taylor added that Shep is not “a safe bet,” and highlighted his consistent claims that he “doesn’t want to get married and settle down.”
Well, Shep has certainly been up front about the matter. If anything, it’s Taylor who started to desire more from the relationship. Following the scene, Taylor admitted in confessional, “If I was pregnant, I would want the rightful steps to be taken, which would be marriage. But I don’t know how much he would step up to the bat, which is really s—ty.”
Shep responded, “The minute you tell me I need to do something a certain way, I will do the exact opposite … but I want you.” He added that they could, “cross that bridge when we come to it.”
As for the timing of the breakup, it has to be noted that as recently as last month the couple were still together, and Shep told People, “good things are on the horizon.”
“It is difficult to curate a relationship on camera,” Shep opined of dating in the public eye. “The way I describe it is all my years on the show, I was juggling one ball; that was me. Now I’m juggling me, I’m juggling my girlfriend and our relationship. Sometimes when you try too hard, it comes off even worse. I think I suffered a little bit from that, trying too hard.”
At the time, Shep credited Taylor for complementing his life as “a boisterous, passionate, idiotic human being”. He said, “Taylor has been a great help as far as pulling me by the collar when I need to be pulled by the collar.”
Commenting on the struggles he and Taylor will have during Season 8, Shep explained, “Honestly, the show can be a real big microscope. As much as it can be embarrassing…it also forces you to really look at yourself. I think I’ve come a long way. I’m basically an old man now, I guess. I’m coming to grips with that.”
Shep gave conflicting messages while promoting his dating spinoff, Relationshep, in 2017. At the time, he was rejecting the idea of “lifelong bachelorhood” enjoyed by the likes of costar Whitney Sudler-Smith.
“I’m not saying they’re not happy, and I think the world of them both, but I don’t want to be in their shoes when I’m their age,” Shep said at the time.
“I like to meet girls and have a good time, but my ladies man reputation sort of got exasperated,” he added. “I never aspired to be like Warren Beatty or anything. I don’t have a silver tongue, I’m not trying to make promises I can’t meet. I’m always looking for someone who’s unbelievable to blow my hair back, and I will happily forsake others if and when I find her.”
It’s worth noting that Shep puts the onus on his partner to inspire commitment out of him. Perhaps Taylor hoped she would be that girl. But one can only speculate. My question is, will Taylor be kept on Southern Charm now that she is not a “girlfriend?”
TELL US- WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THE BREAKUP? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THEIR DYNAMIC ON SOUTHERN CHARM?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]