‘Southern Charm’: Naomie Olindo Is “Very Glad” She Got Her Nose Job

We’re going to be seeing a lot more of Naomie Olindo on this season of Southern Charm, and that’s definitely a good thing. She’s already emerged as season 5’s MVP, calling out JD for his shadiness at Shep’s birthday party and moments later allowing herself to have a sweet moment with ex-boyfriend Craig. If you think she’s done speaking her mind now, well, you’re in for many surprises this season.

We caught up with Naomie to ask about the JD confrontation, where her relationship with Craig stands now, and if she’s dipped a toe back into the dating world. She also opens up about new friendships this season, the reaction to her nose job, and of course, how her cat Gizmo is doing.

Let’s talk about last week, obviously there were a couple big moments for you. Did it feel good in the moment for you to call out JD, and how then did it feel for you watching it back?

Oh yeah, it felt really good. It was definitely something that was a long time coming. I had so much frustration that had really built up for months and months and months and I couldn’t understand why no one had ever said anything to him before. Watching it back, it was pretty much the same thing. I felt good about my decision to do it and was just glad that he realized that people knew and were talking about it and it wasn’t flying under the radar anymore.

I saw the tweets from Liz and yours as well. You had talked about this before and you knew you were going to call his ass out at some point?

Oh yeah, absolutely. The tweets are super unfortunate, but at the end of the day, I heard that Liz and JD were back together so of course she basically has no choice but to defend him. I just wish she hadn’t gone about it in a way that totally threw me under the bus and tried to discredit everything I that I said, because what’s in it for me too? [Calling] out somebody else’s husband is not my business. But at this point what can I do? Nothing. So it is what it is.

I’m guessing the friendship with her is a bit fractured now. Is that something we see this season?

Well actually, it’s interesting because her tweets said that none of this came from her, but I think what she doesn’t remember is that we talked about everything, not in great detail but you can definitely see that this is information that obviously she and I talked about. It was discussed and it was out in the open between the two of us. It was basically me trying to stand up for her because we were scared that JD was going to change the narrative and make her look like she was at fault. He was the one in the wrong. You know how men can be sometimes. They like to change things around.

That moment later in the episode between you and Craig was just so sweet, and felt really real and vulnerable and relatable. 

So that scene actually [was really] vulnerable. Craig and I thought we had a private moment to talk, [and] we were already talking and it was already pretty intense so we just completely ignored the cameras and I think that’s why it came off so raw and real because it really was. It’s pretty hard to watch back. I’m not going to lie, I kind of cried, I got a little teary-eyed.

Do you feel like you have a different perspective on how you each were dealing with it at the time, now?

Oh yeah, definitely. Now it’s just water under the bridge. If we saw each other we’d just be like, “Hey what’s up? Good to see you.” We’ve both moved on and we’re both a lot happier. But it’s weird to watch back because you have to relive this painful moment where neither one of us were over it, we were both having a tough time. It’s like reverse therapy, you take a step back when you watch that.

I imagine it was pretty hard to watch yourself in therapy and not getting along with him last season.

Oh my god, you have no idea. That was awful.

What’s the big challenge for you this season? Is there one or is it a bit smoother this time?

I wouldn’t say smoother. This season I had trouble not letting go. I didn’t want to be with Craig but I didn’t want anybody else to be with him, so it’s me dealing with that and being a little bit jealous. I was honest about my feelings. I didn’t try to pretend like, “Oh, I don’t care, it doesn’t matter.” I was like, “No, I care, I don’t like this, this is hurting my feelings, I wish you didn’t do this.” So there are definitely a lot of moments where I either felt still a little possessive of him or protective or whatever it may be. But yeah, there are more unflattering moments coming up, don’t worry.

It looks like we might be seeing one of them in tonight’s episode in your discussion with Craig. So now, with a little bit of perspective, was it really his sewing that bothered you?

No. It’s not really the sewing that bothered me, he can do whatever he wants. It’s just that sewing was a tool he used to procrastinate on things he really needed to be doing, important things. And so because he’s a master procrastinator, he was putting all his energy into either sewing or gardening or the woodworking shop or [other] hobbies, while skipping out on all the other actual responsibilities that he had. That was my issue with it. It wasn’t at all, “I don’t want my boyfriend to sew.” I don’t give two shits what he does. But he was turning hobbies into like the only thing that he was doing.

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Frickin bats 🦇 (hmua @madison.lecroy 👈🏼)

A post shared by Naomie Olindo (@naomie_olindo) on Feb 15, 2018 at 12:34pm PST

How are you feeling about your new nose job? Were you surprised about people’s reactions to it or that they even had reactions at all?

It was funny because I never thought about that before going in. Before I got it, when I was telling my friends, somebody was like, “Are you gonna announce it? Are you gonna tell people?” And I said “What do you mean announce it?” And they were like,”Are you gonna admit that you got it?” And I said, “What? Why wouldn’t I? What is the big deal?” I guess I had no idea that it would be such a big deal. I thought it was gonna be just a non-issue, you know? Isn’t the goal of everybody to be happy with themselves and be comfortable in their own skin? So that’s what my nose job did for me, and you’d think people would be happy, but instead everyone had their own opinions. Thankfully I have thick skin. I take the hateful comments in stride just like the way I do the nice comments. None of it really means much to me unless it’s from somebody that I know. But I’m very glad that I did it. I love it. My surgeon would text me like, “Are you okay with all this?” Yes, absolutely. I didn’t do it for them, I did it for me so I feel really good about it.

Let’s talk a little about the ladies this season because I’m sure their friendship and having all these girls around who were mostly single at the time too, probably helped with your breakup. Was it intentional to group together as a girl power force this season, or did you all just happen to find each other and have a lot of fun? 

No, it wasn’t this planned thing. Everybody individually has their own friendship with each girl. Chelsea and I have a specific relationship and Kathryn and I have a specific relationship. Kathryn and Chelsea have a specific friendship. So we were all going through very similar things at a very similar time and we would just all talk about it on and off the show. It’s like a real actual friendship so I think that just translated. Obviously we all became close over the summer, before all this had been happening for a little while. So it really grew organically like, “Oh, we’re a squad.”

When I talked to Shep last week he was saying he has a whole new friendship with you this season because you’re not just Craig’s girlfriend anymore, but you guys formed your own independent friendship in doing the show.

Yeah, I love Shep. I think he’s like a brother to me. I would see him and we would talk when I was dating Craig, but now we have this whole other relationship where he talks to me about what’s going on in his life and new girls that he’s seeing and all this stuff. And I talk to him about who I’m seeing and kind of seek his approval for it. I had a really good time with Shep this season. I think he’s great.

Has there been anyone else that your friendship has really grown with this year? 

I think one of the cast members I’m closest to now is Austen. He and my roommate, Wilson, are really good friends. We hang out a lot and talk a lot and I love him to death. He’s also like a brother to me. Cameran and I have a different kind of friendship now too, which is nice.

Last year we saw you going to school. What’s the latest on that, did you graduate? 

Yeah, I was in an MBA program with  a focus in finance. I graduated from that in July. I just started with a partner, a new business. I’m actually in the office with her right now, so we’re working on that and hoping to launch in the middle of May. I don’t want to give anymore details about that because if there’s one thing I’ve learned from Landon, it was not to talk about what you’re doing until you’ve accomplished it.

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Thank you @ellsworthandisobel for this candid of my little prince @colonel_gizmo and me living our best lives 💚💛

A post shared by Naomie Olindo (@naomie_olindo) on Nov 19, 2017 at 9:26am PST

Congrats on school and early congrats on the business. I have to ask about your cat Gizmo. How is he doing? 

He’s doing so well. He’s as grumpy and moody as ever. He’s gained a bit of weight so we’re on a diet right now, but he’s doing great.

Some of the Southern Charm fans here at Decider were wondering if we’re going to see your parents again this season? They were quite the scene-stealers last season. 

Yeah, my mom is a little bit more camera-shy, but my dad just does not care. We actually talked about it and we saw it as an opportunity to be able to watch back our interactions together. My parents and I are really close. I actually filmed a good bit with my dad. My mom, not as much. She’s not as much of an attention whore as my dad. He did great though, he’s a natural. Never nervous, nothing like that. So I had a blast with him.

Were you dating at all this season? Are we going to see that on the show or not so much?

No, I definitely was not ready to date. I wasn’t ready and I really wasn’t looking at all. I basically spent like eight or nine months by myself. I really just had a blast with my friends. Then out of nowhere I met somebody very recently, so we’ll see where that goes.

You seem to be a bit of a world traveler, so what is it that you love about Charleston and do you think you’ll stay for a while?

What I love about Charleston is that it’s got everything that I love about a place. When I travel, I love going places that are beautiful, near the water, have a lot of history and interesting people, and Charleston really embodies that for me. And for my family, too. We looked a lot of places before we chose Charleston to move here. We looked in New York, Miami, Laguna Beach, Lake Tahoe, and not one place really had it all, and Charleston did. I think I’ll probably stay in Charleston for a while. It’s mainly because I want to live in the same city as my parents, so I want to enjoy the time that I have with them before they’re too old to do anything. That’s really important to me. So I think we’ll probably stick together wherever we live.

Southern Charm airs Thursdays at 9pm ET/PT on Bravo. 

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