‘Southern Charm’: The Real Reason Kathryn Dennis Split with Joe Abruzzo
The last few years have been tumultuous for Southern Charm’s Kathryn Dennis. She’s currently embroiled in a long-running custody battle with her ex, disgraced politician Thomas Ravenel. The court battles have been nasty, to say the least, resulting in allegations being thrown around on both sides.
Since breaking up with Ravenel, Kathryn Dennis has been working hard to get her life back together. After failing a drug test in court, she attended rehab and has since been trying to regain sole custody of her children. It also seems as if she’s back in the dating game, because it wasn’t long before she had a new flame in politician Joe Abruzzo. So why did Dennis and her new love end things?
Who is Joe Abruzzo?
Prior to their relationship, Abruzzo was a politician in Florida, serving as a Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives. He served from 2008 to 2012, as well as from 2016 to 2018. Additionally, Abruzzo was a member of the Florida Senate from 2012 to 2016.
Abruzzo went through a public divorce with his wife in 2018, after only three years of marriage. He decided against running for re-election to the Florida House of Representatives in 2018, citing the desire to spend more time with his son. In an interview with the Sun Sentinel, Abruzzo said, “There is no way I am giving up more than one day with him more than I have to. Custody time with my son is the absolute primary reason.”
Similarities to Ravenel?
Unfortunately for Kathryn Dennis, Joe Abruzzo, like Thomas Ravenel, carries a controversial history. During their divorce proceedings, Abruzzo’s ex-wife, Brandy Abruzzo, took to Twitter to call out Abruzzo’s behavior in their relationship, which included allegations of assault. Sounding familiar?
“In a 911 call where I was assaulted by Senator Abruzzo… I have a recording of the officers saying they couldn’t arrest him and ‘it’s a sticky situation since he’s a senator’… I called PBSO to get a copy of the CAD and it no longer existed!! Can anyone help with corruption?” asked Brandy Abruzzo in what seem to be now-deleted tweets.
To make matters worse, Brandy Abruzzo leaked nude photos of her now ex-husband. She captioned them with, “You can have him, ladies. He abuses women and has a porn addiction. This is your State Senator. At least my pics are tasteful.”
If Kathryn Dennis was trying to avoid drama in her relationships, it doesn’t seem like she succeeded.
Kathryn dishes on the breakup
Luckily, it seems as if Kathryn Dennis has learned a thing or two since her difficult time with Thomas Ravenel. In an interview with the Daily Dish, Dennis opened up about what drove her to end the relationship.
“We just met whenever my friends had met him; I didn’t know him well enough to pick up on patterns to then make a decision whether or not to move forward. Whenever I noticed Danni [Baird] being upset with me because she didn’t agree with the way he talked to me or things he did, that’s when I started to think, hm, if my friends are turning on me, I do not need this man in my life. Girls are more important than any kind of dude,” explained Dennis.
Dennis went on to explain that she had to add a new word to her vocabulary to ditch Abruzzo. “I just ghosted him,” explained Dennis. “I learned what that meant on Urban Dictionary and I did it.”
However, Abruzzo felt as if he was being misrepresented. “While briefly dating Kathryn, I never met the cast of Southern Charm. They surely do not know me, the manner of which I retired from public office with awards and accolades, nor my character and values. Therefore, the false comparisons and misrepresentations made by some of the cast and production about me is simply an attempt to add more drama to their show,” Abruzzo told Entertainment Tonight.
