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Austen & Madison Were Introduced By A 'Southern Charm' Co-Star

by Megan Walsh

Austen Kroll and Madison LeCroy's exhaustingly unending relationship drama has been a focal point of Southern Charm Season 6. They've weathered (alleged) cheating scandals, bickering best friends, nasty revelations, and champagne being shot directly into their eyes. But how did it get to this place? To figure that out, it could help to revisit the place where it all began. How did Madison and Austen meet?

The story of Madison and Austen's introduction is actually a fairly common one, which Madison shared in interview with Decider. As a hairdresser, Madison had already worked with several Southern Charm cast members (and was providing Patricia Altschul with regular blow-outs), but not Austen. She had seen him around Charleston and was familiar with him, but they had never really talked until Naomie Olindo invited Madison out to a group dinner that included Austen. That may have been sometime in early 2018, because Madison first appeared on Austen's Instagram on Mar. 25, 2018.

According to Madison, they hit it off right away, though they were just friends for a little while because she had recently ended another relationship. Eventually, their hanging out turned into an actual relationship. It's hardly the rollercoaster of drama things have become, but a fairly typical story of how two people might get together.

Per Madison, their connection started off as an "occasional hangout and then it turned into love." She didn't think either of them were looking to fall in love at that exact moment because they were both focusing on their own lives. "I had my things going on, he had his things, and it just happened," she said. It became complicated by their very public cheating scandal: one morning Madison arrived at Austen's to find two women in his room, one of whom filmed the resultant fight and released it to the public.

Austen insisted nothing had happened, but during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Madison confirmed that she believed he had cheated. In retaliation, she cheated too. Though they stuck it out after that, their relationship eventually fizzled out and they broke up. Viewers of Southern Charm saw it all play out, then watched Austen and Madison started to reconnect on the group trip to Colorado. It's unclear whether or not they're together now; Madison posted a picture of herself and Austen to Instagram in March of this year, but nothing since.

On Instagram, Austen also shared the story of how Madison met his parents. It seems he first introduced them during Easter in 2018. As the caption on a photo of them from this year's celebration, he wrote, "Fun fact: Madison met my folks a year ago today... in church... during 'Peace.' Then, long time family friend called her a heathen at brunch [sic]." Despite the jokes, Madison got along well with his family; during his own Decider interview in May 2019, Austen said that Madison was texting with his mom and planned to do his sister's hair for an event.

Though it may have taken a turn for the tumultuous, Austen and Madison's relationship had a very run-of-the-mill beginning.

Southern Charm airs Wednesdays on Bravo at 9 p.m. ET.