She’s back — and single! Naomie Olindo is returning to Southern Charm following her heartbreaking split with boyfriend Metul Shah.
Naomie, 29, is set to return to the popular Bravo show two years for season 8 after she initially departed the series in 2020.
“The understanding is Naomie will be on the show, but not as a full-time cast member,” a source told Us Weekly. “Her role is more of a friend on the show.”
“She’s excited to be back even if it’s part-time,” the source added. “It’ll be interesting for viewers to see her back on now that she’s single.”
According to the insider, filming with the College of Charleston alum and the rest of the cast members began last week.
The L’Abeye founder left the show partly because she wanted to keep her then-relationship with the 30-year-old doctor more private than the one she shared with costar and ex-boyfriend Craig Conover. Naomi and Metul also planned to leave the south for the Big Apple — after dating for three years, the now ex-couple moved to New York City.
Sadly, just weeks after the big move, the couple split in July 2021. The breakup showed signs of being especially rough: Naomie deleted most of the couple photos she had with Shah at the time and the two unfollowed each other on Instagram. The Southern Charm star also moved back to Charleston.
Shortly after the breakup was confirmed by the fashion designer’s agent, Naomie seemingly hinted that the sudden split was due to infidelity.
“Nothing will be worse than losing my dad but this is a close second. Betrayal is never easy for anyone and I’m just so sorry to anyone else that has stumbled across those terrible messages,” she shared on Monday, July 12, alongside a teary selfie, via Instagram Stories.
Helen Hall, the South Carolina native’s close friend, shared a video with no audio on the same day, in which she is driving and singing what appears to be Carrie Underwood‘s “Before He Cheats.” She captioned the video, “[Name] the song fam.”
Southern Charm’s Madison LeCroy alluded to the song’s lyrics in the comment section, writing, “I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive! (That he can’t afford).”
“I’m so thankful for what the show gave me because it does open a lot of doors and there are a lot of advantages. Then it comes a time when the good doesn’t outweigh the bad anymore where it’s time to walk away,” Naomie said on the Skinny Confidential podcast in July 2020, at the time of her departure. “Personally, I feel like I walked away at a time that was right for me and that’s how Cam [Eubanks] and Chelsea [Meissner] feel too and you know other people that aren’t ready to walk away and want to keep doing it, that’s their prerogative and I’m very supportive of that. I still love most of the people on there.”