‘Southern Charm’: Ashley Jacobs Reveals Pregnancy and Secret Marriage

Former Southern Charm star Ashley Jacobs had two big news items to share over the weekend. Not only did she secretly marry Mike Appel, but Jacobs is also expecting her first child. The two got engaged in March. Jacobs previously dated Southern Charm star Thomas Ravenel, and their relationship was featured in Season 5 of the Bravo series.

The relationship with Ravenel is far in the past now for Jacobs though. The 36-year-old told PEOPLE on Friday she married Appel, 40, in a private, intimate wedding ceremony recently. “We’re having a baby!” the couple told the magazine. “It’s wild how the universe works – our first child together is due the same day we met, two years ago!” The baby boy is due in August.

Jacobs and Appel had plans for a “babymoon” in Kauai, Hawaii to celebrate their upcoming bundle of joy, but it turned into a honeymoon after they got married. The two spent their time at the Ko’a Kea Hotel & Resort at Poipu Beach. “We are over the moon to be on this adventure together, as newlyweds,” Jacobs told PEOPLE.

Appel, who wons Related Garments and creative agency Nnovate, met in 2019 at a summer rooftop party in Santa Barbara, California. In March, the two got engaged during a snowmobile ride in Park City, Utah. After the engagement, Jacobs told PEOPLE the adventure they are on together is “just getting started,” adding that the two are a “great team.”

Ravenel, 58, and Jacobs dated for just over a year until they broke up in August 2018. He accused her of cheating on him, allegations she denied in a Page Six interview. Jacobs said he only made the allegations in an attempt to get a reaction from her after she blocked him on social media. “He’s hurting and he knew that would be the only way to get to me. I just laughed at it,” Jacobs said at the time. “I just laughed at it like, ‘Oh, God. So dramatic!’” The breakup did not play out on the show, as Ravenel left the series. In September 2019, Ravenel pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and battery after his children’s former nanny accused him of rape. He was sentenced to probation and a $500 fine but avoided jail time.

Jacobs also has not appeared on the show since 2018. During the Southern Charm Season 5 reunion, she said the pressure of filming made her “nervous” and led to her losing weight. “It would be hard for me to eat before because I would be so nervous about what to expect,” she said at the time. “And then afterward, I had such a hard time even eating, going, ‘I shouldn’t have said that. I shouldn’t have said this.’ And it caused a lot of stress. I put a lot of pressure on myself.”