How Football Brought This 'Southern Charm New Orleans' Couple Together

Part of the fun of the Southern Charm franchise is watching the power couples get together, breakup, and make up, and Bravo's newest installment, Southern Charm New Orleans, will introduce fans to a whole new crew of socialites down in the Big Easy. One of the couples at the center of it all are Reagan and Jeff Charleston, a husband and wife duo who are each successful in their own right, and form a serious power couple. But, how did Reagan and Jeff Charleston meet before Southern Charm New Orleans?

The stars aligned one magical night for Reagan and Jeff, as In The NOLA reports that the couple met during a Monday Night Football after party in 2009. Jeff is a former professional football player, and was a defensive end for the New Orleans Saints, so it makes sense that fate would bring the couple together in this way. The same report states that Reagan and Jeff's first date was at a Hornets/Pelicans game and dinner at a restaurant in the French Quarter, and they have been together ever since. The couple married in 2012, per Entertainment Tonight. Though they currently don't have any children, Jeff mentions in the trailer for Southern Charm New Orleans that he loves their dogs sort of as kids of their own.

Though Jeff isn't a New Orleans native, Reagan's NOLA roots go way back. According to Entertainment Tonight, Reagan's ancestors have been living in New Orleans since the 1700s, and her family has had profound influence on the city. One of her relatives invented the state drink of Louisiana, the Sazerac, which contains rye whiskey, herbsaint, and Peychaud's bitters. “Knowing that there’s a good reason I enjoy a good cocktail I think is fun, and makes me feel a little better, I guess?” Reagan joked to Entertainment Tonight.

Reagan's grandparents and her mother were all copper sculpture artists in the French Quarter of the city, and though Reagan herself hasn't taken up sculpture, she is a jewelry designer, and has her own jewelry lines. But Reagan isn't just an artist. As she tells Entertainment Tonight, she's also a law student:

“I wear many hats ... I’m in my third year of law school. I’m graduating, I walk in May. I have loved law school, every second of it. ... I think I’ve excelled in school because I’ve learned how to utilize that creative side of my brain that I’ve used for so many years with my jewelry business.”

Though the high-powered, successful couple seem made for each other, the couple's marriage isn't just rose petals and candle-lit dinners. In the Bravo description of the show, Jeff's bio notes that the former athlete "is doing his best to navigate life as a retired professional football player, but is facing early signs of having issues related to football." Though what those issues might be is not explicitly defined, fans can assume that this might be a plot line that emerges on the show, one that could challenge the couple's relationship.

But whatever turbulent times the couple may or may not face, fans of the Southern Charm franchise are likely to be entertained by the antics that Reagan, Jeff, and their friends get up to this season. "You’re going to see the same [kind of] parties, excitement, the music,” Reagan tells Entertainment Tonight about what viewers should expect to differentiate New Orleans from the original Southern Charm. “I mean, we match everything that’s exciting about Charleston, but then you get to add all the New Orleans flavor to the mix, and it’s just exceptional.”

So if you didn't make it to Mardi Gras this year, but have a hankering for a taste of New Orleans, then tune in to Southern Charm New Orleans on Bravo on Sunday nights.