The Truth About Craig Conover And Leva Bonaparte's Relationship

The Southern Charm cast has gone through a quite a few iterations, but with Cameran Eubanks leaving the show in Season 7, it really seemed like things might never be the same. Thankfully, this group of friends spreads wide in Charleston, South Carolina, and the show was able to fill Cam's role with the straight-talking Leva Bonaparte. Leva, per her Bravo bio, was born in India but grew up in Canada and Bolivia. Her family's business expanded in Charleston almost 20 years ago and she's settled there ever since, meeting and marrying her husband Lamar and having her son. 

Already, Leva seems to be on a mission to "advocate for a new south," as her Bravo bio states. In the trailer for Season 7, she is seen calling out all of her friends for not addressing their privilege or see that their world can often be quite small in Charleston. If anything, she's really taking care of the show that Cameran left behind. According to castmate Craig Conover, there's a good reason why Leva fills Cam's role so easily on the series.

In case you were wondering where Leva Bonaparte got off calling her friends out one by one for their sometimes privileged and sheltered perspectives on things, she has earned the right to do so. Craig Conover filled in Reality Blurb on how she fits in with the OG crew. "Leva's been in our life for 10 years. I've been friends with her. We owned a couple restaurants together. She was Cameran's old roommate. So she's always been in our lives and she's actually been a big sister to me just like Cameran we just haven't tracked that before," he said. 

Leva and her husband Lamar do work in the hospitality industry in Charleston and were involved with Craig's Mexican-Japanese fusion restaurant Mesu, which opened in 2019, as per Bravo. Leva told Bravo at the time, "Craig and I have known each other for years! Craig's charisma has always been infectious. My husband and I met him a few years ago, and even though he was young, we could tell he had great business savvy. We've brainstormed other business ideas over the years, so this partnership has been a long time coming. It's a really exciting project."

So while she may be new to the Bravo series, Leva has been around Charleston and this group for a long time. No wonder she fits right in.