‘Southern Charm’ Star Leva Bonaparte Reveals The Fallout From Last Season’s Messy Reunion, Previews Season 8 Drama, And Dishes A Bit About ‘Leva Land’

Southern Charm FINALLY returns to the airwaves tonight on Bravo, after making fans wait for an excrutiatingly long period of 16 months. The last time we saw the Charmers on-screen was way back in February of 2021, when Bravo aired the show’s wild and wooly two-part Season 7 reunion, a get-together where the cast’s famed Southern manners and sense of decorum seemingly got left behind at CHS.

One of the people to escape that reunion without taking an extreme amount of emotional shrapnel was the resilient Leva Bonaparte. The exceedingly gracious and classy restauranteur was a key addition to the crew during Southern Charm Season 7, helping to patiently illuminate the importance of some large-scale cultural issues that were sweeping the nation during that tense summer of 2020 — all the while doing so without ever coming across as condescending or preachy. Leva returns for Season 8 tonight, and took the time to hop on a Zoom with Decider recently to explain her personal approach to filming this season after dealing with some on- and off-screen turbulence last season (“I just want to have fun”), the role that she sees herself as serving on the show, and give us a little bit of scoop on her upcoming SoCharm spin-off series, Leva Land.

Fair warning: Some extremely mild spoilers are ahead (no plot details, just some emotional stuff).

DECIDER: Everyone is psyched to watch Season 8 of Southern Charm tonight, but I’d like to start this off by discussing that INSANE Season 7 reunion. I mean, I watch ALL of the reunion shows on Bravo, even if it’s not like a show that I’m watching week-in and week-out, so I can confidently say that was one of the top three craziest reunions ever. Can you talk a little bit about the blowback that happened, both immediately after you shot it and then when the fans got to see it?

LEVA BONAPARTE: Yeah, it was kind of like a whirlwind. Compared to this year, I think last season a lot of things were kept sort of secretive. Like, things were said and then people didn’t address them, or people wanted to protect people. As opposed to this year, where it’s like, no holds barred. It’s Southern Charm gone a little wild this year. So, at the reunion, it was like all the things we hadn’t said just imploded … and maybe Craig had had a little too much rosé or something. 

Craig definitely seemed like he was overserved. 

Yeah, I mean, I was laughing because he came into my changing room and he was like flipping his hair and he was like holding a rosé. And I was like, “Oh, you’re like having a good ol’ time already.” He’s like, “It’s gonna be fine Leva. It’s gonna be fine.” I was like, “No, I don’t know how fine it’s going to be.” So, he came in like ready to have fun, and then I think it just… once the hairs started flip flopping, we were like, “Ohhh, Craig is ready to rumble.” 

Were there any sort of residual hard feelings from what came out that day?

Yes, there were. It put a strain on me and Madison’s relationship, only because I think she might have expected me to jump in a bit more. Some of the stuff I didn’t know if it was true or not, so I didn’t intervene. You know, some of it was not necessarily a lie, but also it was also like “Craig, chill out,” you know? That whole day put a strain on a lot of people, and then, of course, Austin and Madison broke up. Me and Catherine, though, it was sort of the opposite, because we kind of made amends. We went to dinner after the reunion just to talk about our feelings, talk about how we could work through the feelings we had, and sort of come to a better place — which we did.

After experiencing everything that you experienced in your first season — there were a lot of turbulent times on the show, and also in the nation at large — how did you approach your second season? After getting a chance to watch yourself on TV, were there any things that you wanted to consciously adjust, or focus on?

I so wish I thought that way, but I kind of don’t. I’m so bad at editing myself. I’m definitely good at putting on a face like a hostess, you know, and setting things aside for a moment because that’s what I do. But when we’re filming, I’m really bad at editing myself.

I was so tired and so stressed out last season, so one thing I did do coming into this season is was remind myself “I just want to have fun. I don’t want to fight with anyone. I don’t think any of this is worth it.” So, that was what I brought into both life and the show. But, you know, it doesn’t always work out that way. I’ve got a temper. I know that. I’m bossy. I know that, too. I’m flawed, you know, probably extremely flawed. But yeah, those are the things I struggle with. I’m aware of it, though, and can work on it.

My father always says to me, “You advise to your demise.” You know, like you always want to advise everyone and everything, but then they end up like being angry at you. So instead, I came in with a sense of like, we just got through COVID. I’m so happy my businesses survived. It’s like I came through and survived, too. I was so grateful and  I just wanted everyone to not be petty and get along. And I think the rest of the cast wanted that, too, but we were all having a lot of personal changes. Sounds like we’re going through puberty [laughs].

It’s a lot, I know, but the good news is that it’s setting us up for an incredible season of TV, for sure.

I think you guys are going to love, love, love it. 

At one point early on this season, Naomie says to you, “Don’t do the weird Mom thing that you do.” Do you ever kind of feel like you’re the the mom of the group? I mean, I know you’re all peers, of course. But you know, you’re a little bit more advanced in your life. You’ve got a great family. You’ve got tons of successful businesses. Do you ever feel that way with this group?

Oh, totally. I mean, none of them are sort of like in the life stage that I’m in, but you know, yeah, I totally do the Mom thing. I do the Mom thing with Craig and Naomie all the time, because I literally saw them when they met. It’s like, I’m like this older, protective sister or aunt. And yeah, I Mom them all the time.

But when it boils down to life stuff and struggle stuff, sometimes I don’t have the bandwidth, because I’m just like, “this shit doesn’t matter.” It probably makes me a little impatient with them. And yeah, I Mom it because I’m just like, “petty, keep it moving. Let’s all get along.” And Naomi knows I do that. Probably loves me for it.  

That’s kind of the role that that Cameran (Eubanks) used to play. Do you feel any sort of pressure as being that sort of mom figure who has to help to keep control and keep the peace?

No. No pressure. I think it comes naturally because of the the job that I do. You know, I already have all these kids that I work with that I’m like,”This doesn’t matter. Can you get along for your shift?” But I do think that I can sometimes overstep a little bit, because I’m just, I’m, like, want to fix it. And it’s like, just just let them fight. Sometimes you have to fight it out. Like, sometimes you just have to figure it out. So, I don’t think I feel pressure. I think I feel pressure, because I do it too much. And I’m like, “Just chill out. Be a friend, you know. Shut up. Be a friend. Have a drink.” So it’s like, my internal monologue is like, you don’t need you don’t need to take this one. 

I totally get it. I can’t wait to watch everything unfold this season, but I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you a little bit about your new show Leva Land. I think everyone’s like super psyched for a Charleston version of Vanderpump Rules, but what can you tell the fans about the show?

You’re gonna see a whole other side of Charlseton that you haven’t seen, which is very coastal and very nightlife, you know. You don’t get a lot of that on Southern Charm. The cast of my show is a lot younger — like kids in their early 20s. There’s a bit of a Vanderpump factor, but this show is not just about waiters and waitresses. This cast all has deep rooted friendships from college, and they’ve worked for me for years. You just can’t make this shit up.

I find myself sitting there, shaking my head like “What?,” but they’re all such good kids. They’re young, and they make the mistakes we’ve all made. And I really do love them. I call them my kiddos. So, I’m so excited for you guys to see it, because it pays a bit of an homage to shows like Laguna Beach and Vanderpump. It’s just going to be a cool new thing that Bravo audiences haven’t seen before.

Southern Charm Season 8 premieres on Bravo on June 22 at 9/8c.