Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - FULL VIDEO: 'Southern Charm' Star Kathryn Dennis has Big MELTDOWN After Driving Drunk

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

Kathryn Dennis has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for a May 2024 crash in Goose Creek, South Carolina in which she was convicted of driving under the influence. Dennis rose to fame for her role in the Bravo hit reality show "Southern Charm" but left the show in 2023. Since that time, she has joined OnlyFans and seen her star fade. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the video of her arrest and talks with a journalist who knows Dennis in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CRIMEFIX at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: http://incogni.com/crimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Amy Feinstein Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Life gets very, very real for a former reality TV star after she's accused of driving drunk. I'm just so hard in here. I'll tell you all about the case of Catherine Dennis and where she is now. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Janette Levy. Years ago, things were really looking up for Catherine Dennis.

She was one of the stars of a reality TV show called Southern Charm on Bravo. Chilling in the audience. Ah, yeah. Legends fall 2020. But now, Catherine. Catherine Dennis, whose roots traced back to some of South Carolina's most prominent political families, is just another inmate at the Berkeley County Jail. And honestly, from the looks of her booking photo, she doesn't look all that unhappy about it.

Before I get into what exactly landed Catherine Dennis in jail, I want to go back a little bit to 2014. That's when Southern Charm debuted on Bravo. The reality show followed the lives as socialites in Charleston, South Carolina. The show was a hit for Bravo. Catherine Dennis was a member of the cast and she was dating former South Carolina treasurer Thomas Ravenel. Their 29-year age difference may have made for good reality TV but not a great relationship. They started dating when Dennis was still in college and Ravenel was running for U.S. Senate.

Dennis and Ravenel had two children together and Ravenel eventually won custody of those children. Their relationship was marked by allegations of assault and shouting matches. In 2023, Dennis confirmed she was leaving Southern Charm. That same year, she joined only fans to make a living, calling herself the Queen of the South. Then in May of 2024, Catherine Dennis was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after a crash in Goose Creek, South Carolina. Police said they conducted a couple of different field sobriety tests with Catherine Dennis, and they said she failed all of them, and they could smell alcohol on her breath. An officer wrote in a police report that Dennis's eyes appear glossy and that they found an empty pink tumbler in her SUV. Dash cam video showed Dennis in handcuffs being loaded into the back of a cruiser. Let's back it up and listen. I don't need to go, but if you want to waste your time, then let me go. It is a waste of time. You're wasting my time.

and my fathers and my dogs. Okay. Acting off at nothing. Acting off of nothing. Some bullshit. Treating me like I'm an animal. It's just crazy. Go ahead.

Bye. Get out of my face. Why are you so close to me? I'm trying to... Why are you so close to me? You're disgusting. You're gross. Don't touch me like that.

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and she really loses it since her dog is in her car and may need to go to the shelter. I want my dog. No. I want my puppy. Please let me have my puppy. He can't go to the animal shelter. What do you mean?

I will sue the shit out of you. No, I want my dog. He means everything to me. This is my... I just want my dog to be okay. Please just let my puppy be okay. Please. That's my baby.

Please don't mess with him. Y'all are so mean. I'm like, why would y'all do that? to him. He's my child. Please don't give him away, please. I want my baby. Please don't give him away, please. Please don't give my dog away. Sir, I need to know what you're doing with my dog. He is my child, please. Catherine Dennis is very upset and she's pretty drunk.

She really wants her dog back and she's upset that the dog is being taken to a shelter and that she'll have to go pick him up the next day. Why would you guys ever do something like that, do any one? Y'all are fucking mean. How do you live like this? You'll have an opportunity to get him, isn't it? But if you don't go and pick him up. Why wouldn't I pick him up? I want my baby back.

I want my baby. He's probably so scared. I'm really like, I need to go to sleep. Like, I just want to be left alone right now. Please let me just go to sleep. sir like I'm talking to you as a human like I am a human I deserve my rights can you please acknowledge me oh I guess you're just gonna treat me like some ridiculous person whatever I'm just not gonna talk it's ridiculous oh really now

it's protocol and hours after the wreck i didn't refuse i refused i refused right before you took me out of that office right there and then tried to put me in the car and touch me in appropriately oh really because yeah you did yeah you did go ahead tell your friends i don't give a what are you guys going to do to me i didn't do anything i'm sorry you feel that way I'm sorry you are heartless clearly. You know, I'm actually like a really normal, good person. And it's pissing me off because I'm being treated like I'm not. And it's just like my ex gaslighting me.

I'm hairs of my mouth. Dennis continues her rant as the officer takes her to a hospital for a blood draw. I'm tired. 5.30. Because I work. I'm not up above. Any mother would be pissed. Any mother would be pissed if she was in my situation. and she would be talking to just saying any mother of two if you can't understand that

then that's on you what hospital are we going to what hospital are we going to Why do you hate me so much? I hate being stuck with men who are just jerks. Like this feels so dramatic. And my hands are behind my back. Like I feel so traumatized. Sorry, will you please just take me home? Please. I'm begging you I just want to go to my home with my dad I literally I know you think that I'm someone that I'm not but like I genuinely just want to go on to my dad and my puppy please

this is so crazy to me I have a meeting in the morning like I have a meeting in the morning like I can't not do this like this is crazy do I sound drunk to you like I know I sound sad and dramatic but like did I just don't understand the reason you might in this I feel really exposed right now with my hands behind my back and my boobs out just saying I don't really like the way it feels Sir, please just take me to my dad. Please. This is so unnecessary.

Like, we're all wasting our own time. It's crazy. I don't know. I'm just going to be mad. If I say something to you, it might be recorded. Okay, so that's enough of that. Police said when they searched Dennis's SUV, they found a brown dog bag that contained both empty and full mini bottles of fireball.

That's a cinnamon whiskey. And you can actually see the officer pull a few of those bottles from the bag in this dash cam video. By the time that Catherine Dennis is taken from the hospital to the jail, she seems to have cooled down a little bit, and she's nicer to the officer. I'm sure he's dealt with a person or two before who didn't want to be in cuffs. Goosecray coming in with a female. Yes, sir. Ma'am, I mean, you'll be in general, like, a general holding area for people that are brought in through the night.

So, depending on if anybody else is brought tonight, I mean, I don't know. I can't say yes or no. in an area where there will be other people yeah it's not I don't like saying general population but it's just like general like general housing for the for yeah I think you'd be all right I think you just that's not sure there's plenty of people out there that love redheads Are they gonna give me anything to drink us? You can ask them, I mean keep being cool and I'm sure they'll be cool with you and just...

I'm doing it. Just there's a lot. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Don't know. Another day and another dollar.

Don't use that on your podcast. Don't use that on your podcast. on your podcast, okay? That's my, that's my saying. All right. All right, I got you. He ain't got me, but I got you. Catherine Dennis was sentenced last Friday to 30 days in jail, so she's in the Berkeley County jail for now. I want to bring in Amy Feinstein. She's a freelance journalist who has covered Catherine Dennis for years, also covered the show Southern Charm for a really long time and knows katherine dennis um so amy i really appreciate you coming on to talk with me this seems like a really awful sad kind of turn of events for katherine dennis this is somebody who in my

in my view just kind of looking at this from the outside looking in really had it going on there for several years and this is kind of a stunning kind of a fall from grace it's really sad when you look at the dash cam footage she obviously she has some issues with alcohol and now she's doing this 30 days in jail for the DUI. I it's it's devastating. I mean particularly for Catherine and her ongoing legal situation for custody of the children or at least visitation. And she's trying to get visitation. It's my understanding from all my reading about the case that the father of the children, Thomas Ravenel, he has custody of the children. You know,

you don't often see that, that the father gets, you know, sole custody and the mom's kind of shut out. So talk to me a little bit about that struggle, if you don't mind. Yes. Well, I think a lot of it, as if you've read the background, Thomas Ravenel has had issues with alcohol and such and has been behind bars before. So you would think that there would be some sort of balance. But, you know, again, I do think that finances make a big difference. When Catherine first was arrested and charged with this DUI, what were your thoughts? Were you surprised by that? I wish I was surprised. I mean, as time goes on, you keep thinking that the better decisions,

to make would be obvious but I mean I've read the police report and the details having empty bottles on the floor of your car and having such an accident with two other cars that's it's just it's devastating and you know just not being truthful with the police I'm not saying that's always the best interest, but, you know, she's dealt with enough legal situations by now that I would have hoped things could have turned out better. I also think that in such a case, very often if you'll go to a rehab facility or something, things can be tweaked for you to make things a little bit better to show that you're taking it very seriously and that you're getting help and that doesn't seem to be the case right now well she's

very fortunate that somebody wasn't killed in this accident my god i mean they uh you know earlier we talked about the empty bottles of the fireball that they found in the dog bag there was a brown dog bag they found in the vehicle and they said there was there were these mini bottles of fireball and some of them were empty some were not there was a pink tumbler in the car in the body camera well it's not body camera footage but it's dash camera footage uh from her arrest i mean you know this is what drunk people sometimes do is she's like cursing at the cops you know i want my puppy she's screaming you know i mean obviously something's wrong here um and she's just a hot mass i mean there's just no other way to to put to get around it that's what it is so i mean

she's she's actually very fortunate she's only getting 30 days correct Do you think she'll go to rehab? I think if she really gets a chance in the next 30 days to see the situation as it is, absolutely. She will go to some form of rehab, some sort of dual diagnosis rehab to just address all the things that are going on in her life. I mean, her mother passed away a few years ago and that devastated her. You said dual diagnosis, you know, obviously you think she might have some mental health issues going on in the background, you know. I think at the very least there's, I mean, she had said to the officer that she was on medication. I don't know for sure what medications, but a lot of mental health medications with alcohol are bad mixes.

Definitely, totally. You're not even supposed to drink alcohol when you're on mental health medications, even if it's just for depression or anything like that. You're not supposed to, you're just not supposed to drink with it. That's just how it goes. You know, the Southern Charm show, that's something that has like a big following. A lot of the younger women that I work with here at Law and Crime really love that show. How big of a deal was that show for Catherine Dennis when she was selected to appear on it? She was on it for years.

Yes. I think it was huge. And I think she saw it. She hadn't finished undergrad yet, so she was approximately around 20 years old, and now she's over 30. So it's been going on for quite a while, and I think for a while it gave her a lot of opportunities. But the situation with the children, it's difficult. I mean, particularly since, you know, the person that she was involved with, Thomas Rabanella is a good deal older than she is. and has been on television and in politics for years.

I think that she just did see a lot of things coming and chose not to go back to college and finish up. And yet recently she had told me that that's what she was looking into. She wanted to go back to school to finish her degree. Well, maybe that's something she could do once she finishes this 30 days in jail and maybe gets some help for the drinking and the other issues she's having. You know, she ended up on only fans apparently in 2023. Was that just to make a living? I think that that was to increase her income, yes. So what do you think the future holds for her?

Do you think she can kind of get some help and pull it together? I would hope so. You know, she, right now, had been living with her father in the family home, and I know that he has had some illness. So I think that if she really addresses, sometimes I really can't say how often she was drinking if this was sort of a one-off. But getting all of that out of your system will hopefully help you see things a little bit more clearly. Do you think that that show, being on that show, in some ways, do you think it hurt her more than it helped her? Financially, I think it helped her. I think that perhaps in other ways, just seeing what real life and the real world was about,

I think it hurt her. I think it just, it made it seem, at least to her at that time, that this was going to be ongoing. And, you know, I do think it's difficult. to have to address being a parent, being an adult, just managing your life. I think that there were a few steps that were skipped. And doing that all on television, you know, and then having the cameras there, and it may have given her, do you think it gave her a false sense of what the real world was really like?

I mean, they call it reality TV, but is it really reality? It isn't. I think that people's storylines and such are what the production determines. And I think that, you know, again, I'm sure, you know, when you were in college, when I was in college, I don't know anybody following me around when I was 20 would have been a great idea for my future. So I can honestly say that it made a lot of things. seem very exciting and, you know, hair and makeup and wardrobe. And she had done modeling before and she did modeling during. And it gives you a false sense of what life is as things go on.

I mean, we all get older and hopefully smarter. And I'm really, I'm hoping for that for Catherine, that she sees what she needs to do. And nothing is going to be immediate. It's going to have to be a work in progress and making progress. And, you know, I don't want to sound like somebody's mom when I say that, you know, the company you keep. But, you know, I mean, I'm a bit older than Catherine, but, you know, just drinking and driving when Uber and things like that are so readily available, it just seems like a silly decision. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's amazing to me that people.

still do it, especially when you can just, as you mentioned, get on your phone and order up a car. Correct. And it'll cost you a lot less than a DUI and nobody gets hurt, you know, so just a really sad state of affairs. Well, we shall see what happens with her, and I personally wish her the best. I hope that she's able to work things out. Amy, thank you so much for joining me. Amy Feinstein, freelance journalist.

I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Now, Catherine Dennis, she's also being sued in civil court by a man who was involved in that crash in which she was found to have been driving under the influence. That man, he claims he suffered mental anguish and some other things as a result of the crash. State Farm, which is Dennis's insurance company, has denied those claims. So we'll keep an eye on it and we'll see what happens. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Janette Levy.

Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time. Thank you.