'Southern Charm': Kathryn Dennis Disappears for a Week After Going Off Anti-Depressants
After being verbally attacked by ex Thomas Ravenel’s new girlfriend Ashley Jacobs, Kathryn Dennis disappears this week on Southern Charm — leaving her friends sick with worry.
Thursday’s episode — aptly titled “Gone Girl” — opens with Kathryn skipping a boxing class with Naomi Olindo, who fails to track her down. By the end of the hour, though, she resurfaces at Danni Baird’s home, where she reveals while completing rehab in California in 2016, she was officially diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
“I am so excited that you are actually alive right now! Oh my God, don’t ever do this to me again,” Danni exclaims. “Where the heck have you been, and why didn’t you respond to me, and why did you almost give me a heart aneurysm?”
“I don’t know, it’s really difficult to explain. With everything going on like the Ashley stuff, it’s just been a lot, and I felt like I literally just took a mental break and shut my phone off, locked myself in my apartment,” Kathryn says. “It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t see anyone’s messages until like two days ago.”
“Which was a week!” Danni cries.
“But nothing actually went on,” Kathryn says. “I literally just shut off the world.”
Kathryn has been clashing with Ashley all summer long, and things came to a head when the Bravo newbie criticized her parenting skills with daughter Kensie, 3, and son Saint, almost 18 months. (In 2016, Kathryn lost custody and entered rehab after she tested positive for drugs, but she’s been focused on rebuilding her life ever since. Thomas currently stands accused of sexually assaulting two women, which he has denied.)
Kathryn’s friends has been concerned that she’d relapsed … or worse.
“Kathryn, I swear to God, I did not know if you were alive,” Danni says. “And it scared me to death.”
“I know, but you have to understand, it’s difficult to explain to people that maybe don’t deal with depression,” Kathryn says, tearing up. “I have been on meds for a while now, dealing with depression. And as far as living sober and being happy that way, I’ve been doing well. I got a job now. I thought to myself, I don’t need these. So I just stopped taking them and I didn’t really realize how it would affect me, and it really did. It increased my anxiety. It increased my emotional response. And it snowballed. And I’ve been in a way kind of ashamed.”
“Getting this diagnosis gave me some relief as to why I was choosing, irresponsibly, to numb out those emotions,” she tells the camera. “That being said, I now take anti-depressants.”
The pals hug it out, and Kathryn promises to be more open about her struggles and never go M.I.A. again. But based on the teaser for next episode, it doesn’t seem like she and Ashley are heading for a peaceful resolution anytime soon.
Southern Charm airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.