‘Southern Hospitality’: Maddi Reese and Joe Bradley Tease Feuds, ‘Resentment’ at Republic in Season 4 (Exclusive)

It’s time to pop the cork on another season of Southern Hospitality, but it’s not just champagne problems dividing the staff at Republic in Season 4.

Ahead of Wednesday’s Season 4 premiere of the Bravo series, Maddi Reese and her boyfriend, Joe Bradley, opened up to PopCulture.com about the tensions and “resentment” brewing in Charleston after a bombshell Season 3 reunion.

After Maddi learned at the reunion that her friend, Bradley Carter, had made up a rumor that her ex-boyfriend had cheated on her, the DJ told PopCulture that she had to take a step back from the friend group and work on her mental health while focusing on her music career.

“I came back from my time away and was more so like, ‘How do I fit into this dynamic?’” she confessed. “Because to me, I thought, really, there’s no world for me where I can move on from this. I don’t think I could ever be friends with this group again [which] lied to me for years.”

“I was just like, where’s my place in this group? Like, do I have friends here? Do I not?” she continued. “And I feel like, for me, the best way to figure that out is to confront your issues and to talk about them and see if you can move forward from them.”

Maddi said she felt like she had to “protect” herself, her boyfriend, and her friends, including Emmy Sharrett, from the “harm” she’d seen in past seasons, when Joe faced rumors about the nature of his relationship with TJ Dinch and Emmy’s fiancé, Will Kulp, was accused of cheating on her.

“I don’t like how they portray Emmy as this mass manipulator when she is not that calculated to be that manipulative,” Maddi said, adding that she felt like some of the cast was “going after” Emmy this season “because she spilled the truth on them” at the Season 3 reunion.

“It’s like a, ‘F—k you, you hurt my reputation,’ kind of thing,” Maddi said. “And I think people like TJ and Mia [Alario] and [Bradley] are so scared of their reputations, and [Emmy] obviously hurt their reputation by telling the truth.”

While Maddi acknowledged that Emmy also hurt her own reputation, as well as Will and Joe’s, for telling the truth about the cheating rumor and who all had been looped in on the truth, she also noted that Emmy “struggles with having those hard conversations” that could salvage some of her relationships.

Joe acknowledged that while there’s “a lot of resentment” and “a lot of history” with the Republic crew going into Season 4, he felt like there was more of an ability to “move on quicker” instead of letting the bad blood “drag out the whole summer.”

“What I’m proud of [with] our group is that we were able to kind of bounce back and have some good times in there too,” he acknowledged.

Joe and Maddi’s relationship also finds itself in the hot seat this season, as Joe says his “drinking and a lack of communication,” as well as “pent-up stress” set the two at odds at times.

“It’s real s—t,” said Joe, as Maddi acknowledged that the two were coming out of the “honeymoon phase” and looking to the future this season, taking on big topics like Joe’s career, Maddi’s mental health, and possible fertility options.

“As much as they were harder conversations or we had disagreements about some of those things, they all were to be able to set us up for a successful future,” Maddi shared.

The cast for Southern Hospitality Season 4 also includes returning stars Leva Bonaparte, Michols Peña, Lake Rucker, Grace Lilly, and Molly Moore, as well as new hires Justin Assad and Bella Starcher.

Southern Hospitality returns for Season 4 on Wednesday, March 4 at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo. Episodes will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.