Thomas Ravenel, the lead cast member on Bravo’s Southern Charm, is under investigation for sexual assault.
According to People Magazine, which broke this disturbing story, real estate Ashley Perkins alleges that the reality star took advantage of her mother back when she went on a date with Ravenel in 2015.
Parker says her mother and Ravenel met on the dating app Tinder in October of the aforementioned year and then went out on Christmas Day, about two months later.
“We lived in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. He was going to pick her up and they were going to go out for drinks. She agreed to that.” Parker tells People, adding that she did not witness the alleged incident.
She continues as follows:
“I helped her get ready – she wore a diamond tennis bracelet on her wrist. Her wrist was fine when she left the house.
“He left her voicemail saying he got lost on the way to pick her up. I thought he sounded a little inebriated.”
Parker, pictured below with her mother, says Ravenel “changed plans” from the original date agreement as soon as her mom got into his car.
He suggested they go see a home he had just had renovated and she agreed.
(We should note at this point that Southern Charm airs on Bravo and follows a bunch of rich and spoiled people around. It premiered in March of 2014.)
Once inside the home, Ravenel reportedly poured his date a small glass of wine.
Upon entering the nanny’s room in the residence, Ravenel “he turned on” my mom, Parker says,detailing her allegations this way:
“He pushes my mom onto the nanny’s bed, grabs her wrist with one hand, then he starts trying to pull her pants off. And she’s like ‘No, no, no, stop.’
“He stuck his fingers inside of her vagina as well as her anus.
“She told me that he held her hands back with one arm and then pulled his penis out and shoved it in her face.”
After her mother screamed “YOU’RE A RAPIST,” Ravenel leaped out, “out of his trance,” Parker says, and left the room.
After the alleged attack, Ashley claims Ravenel told Debbie “to get yourself an Uber.”
However, Debbie convinced Ravenel to drive her home because she had never taken an Uber before, and he proceeded to berate her on the way there.
Parker explains that her mom was acting very “withdrawn” until finally confessing to her daughter what had transpired.
According to Ashley, Debbie contacted a friend who was an attorney and described the alleged situation. He advised her to get legal help, she says.
Parker says they hired Gloria Allred (who has declined comment) and agreed with Ravenal in “mediation” for a settlement of $ 200,000.
Parker and her mom now live in Florida.
She says she has come forward to serve as an inspiration for other victims of sexual assault.
“This is bigger than my mom. This is bigger than me. I would like to let… other women know that Thomas is not invincible,” Ashley concludes to People.
“Or even just women who are against powerful men and think they can’t do anything. I want them to know, you can. I would like to see him off of Bravo.
“I would like for my mom not to have to worry about flipping on the television and seeing his smug mug, flaunting his lifestyle around. It’s bigger than us now.
“I’d like to see some good come out of the ugly.”
In response to these charges, a lawyer for Ravenel says:
My client enjoys a certain degree of fame and unfortunately has become – unfairly – a target for an individual who has, in my opinion, dubious motivations.
Ravenel, who was sentenced to 10 months in jail on federal cocaine distribution charges in 2007, has starred on Southern Charm since its premiere in 2014.
He shares four-year-old daughter Kensie and two-year-old son Saint with ex-girlfriend Kathryn Dennis.