Austen Kroll’s sister Katie is serving up a big helping of tough love on Southern Charm when it comes to her brother’s relationship drama.
In Us Weekly’s exclusive sneak peek at the Wednesday, January 21, episode of the Bravo series, Katie, 30, visits Austen, 38, in Charleston and doesn’t mince words about his lack of future plans with girlfriend Audrey Pratt, who lives in North Carolina.
“Have you guys talked about if she were to move here?” Katie asks in the preview.
Austen confesses, “No. She’s just been living in the moment. I’ve just been living in the moment. Haven’t really been thinking of things.”
Katie then calls out her big brother for seemingly not being invested enough in the couple’s next steps.
“You have been dating [for] a year and a half and if you’re having hesitation about Audrey moving here, like, what is that telling you?” Katie says. “To be honest, if you’re not gung-ho then what are you?”
Austen is visibly taken aback by his sister’s bluntness, asking, “Why are you sounding aggressive?”
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“Because I love Audrey,” Katie responds. “I feel like at this point you should feel that gung-ho.”
Austen later tells the cameras that he does have “some reservations” about his and Audrey’s relationship, noting, “Much like I had some reservations of getting cats, for God’s sake. They’re reservations like, ‘Wait, this could be the last next step of my life?’”
Austen is once again at a loss for words when Katie asks whether there is a “benefit to stepping back” from the romance and questioning, “Do I miss you enough? Is it really what I want?”
“What are we doing if it’s not all in?” Katie tells Austen, who rolls his eyes.
Austen takes a breath and then replies, “Well, I don’t want to put a dark cloud on us hanging out tomorrow, but I do understand that a very tough conversation is in our imminent future,” having noted earlier in the meal that Audrey was coming to town and he was “excited” to see her.
Elsewhere in the video, Austen gives a little more insight into why he wasn’t pressuring Audrey to move or thinking of relocating himself, comparing the situation to a space phenomenon.
“It’s kinda like a meteor that’s coming toward Earth. It’s in six months, you don’t have to worry about that meteor for six months,” Austen tells the cameras. “I’m just enjoying it even though I know that it’s there and it’s coming.”
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The proverbial meteor did eventually crash into Austen and Audrey, who split before season 11 of Southern Charm premiered in November 2025.
Austen and Audrey began dating in December 2023, but it wasn’t until February 2024 that fans got a glimpse at their romance. At the time, the Trop Hop beer founder shared a series of photos via Instagram from a group trip to Mexico with Audrey as his date.
After one year together, Austen exclusively told Us in December 2024 that he wasn’t in a hurry to settle down.
“It’s an interesting thing, but we’re certainly not rushing anything and we’re just enjoying [it],” he shared at the time, saying the distance between them was “a quick little drive. It’s nice.”
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Fans began to wonder whether there was trouble in paradise in summer 2025, months before Austen confirmed the pair’s split to Us.
“I don’t care if it’s a spoiler, Audrey and I never had any sort of, like, ‘damn’ moment that happened to make anything [bad] between us happen,” he said in November 2025, explaining that viewers would see their troubles play out on screen.
Austen teased, “It’s very difficult. At first, I loved the fact that she lived [in North Carolina] and I lived [in South Carolina], and we make an effort to see each other as often as possible, and then it comes to that point where it’s like, ‘We’ve been dating for this long now, who’s moving where and when?’ You’ll see this kind of unfold.”
Southern Charm airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
