Southern Charm star Patricia Altschul reflected on her relationship with son Whitney Sudler-Smith’s father in her new memoir.
After meeting 25-year-old Lon Smith in 1962, they “moved rapidly from like to love to let’s get married,” she wrote in Eat, Drink, and Remarry: Memories from a Lifetime of Art, Class, and Southern Charm, published on Tuesday, November 11.
“It’s a Southern thing that women need to be married by the time they’re 25 or they automatically become old maids. I still had a few years before my expiration date, but I’ve always been a risk-taker,” Altschul, now 84, wrote. “I couldn’t imagine having a better husband than Lon. And if I were wrong about that, I thought, ‘Well, there’s always divorce.’”
They wed in an “intimate ceremony with no pageantry,” Altschul recalled, noting that she wore a “short peach dress and a hat with a veil.” Smith “was thrilled because it was all so easy,” she wrote.
‘Southern Charm’ Cast’s Dating History: Inside the Bravo Stars’ Love Lives
The former couple moved in together and Altschul “insisted” that they had separate bedrooms.
“People would be happier if they did that — they’d get more sleep because bed partners frequently snore and pull at the covers,” she explained. “And sleeping in separate bedrooms is very romantic.”
Altschul and Smith welcomed Whitney — who would go on to produce and star on Southern Charm — in June 1968.
“He was an easy child. He was a pleasure. He wasn’t difficult, he didn’t have tantrums,” Altschul told Us Weekly exclusively of her son while promoting the book. “He’s been a great comfort and a joy to me all these years.”
After about 15 years of marriage, Altschul and Smith split.
“Lon and I acknowledged our differences and moved forward, continuing as friends and coparents in the most amicable, responsible, and respectful ways,” she wrote, noting that Sudler-Smith’s “well-being” was their only concern in the divorce.
They made sure to be “equally present” for Sudler-Smith throughout his childhood.
‘Southern Charm’ Stars Who Left the Series: Where Are They Now?
“We attended parent-teacher conferences together and spoke on the phone practically every day,” Altschul wrote, sharing that Sudler-Smith was “never” forced to choose between his parents.
“We wanted our son to feel loved and supported by both of us, so our approach to divorce was ‘conscious uncoupling’ decades before Gwyneth Paltrow popularized the term,” Altschul wrote. “I’d even go so far as to say that we became better friends after our marriage ended.”
Altschul knows that it’s “not typical” for most splits. “I’m happy we were able to maintain such a positive relationship,” she added. (Altschul married two more times following their divorce. She and Edward Fleming were married from 1989 to 1995. She moved on with Arthur Altschul, whom she was married to from 1996 until his death in 2002.)
Smith died at age 84 in August 2021 following a battle with leukemia.
“Unexpectedly losing Dad was a real horror show,” Sudler-Smith said of his father’s death during a season 8 episode of Southern Charm, which aired in 2022.
Altschul called her ex-husband a “nice, kind, brilliant man” in the episode when discussing his passing.
“It’s terrible,” she added. “It was a terrible summer.”
