Southern Charm's Patricia Shares Rare Quotes About Whitney's Dad

Southern Charm star Patricia Altschul reflected on her relationship with son Whitney Sudler-Smith’s father in her new memoir.

After meeting 25-year-old Lon Smith in 1962, they “moved rapidly from like to love to let’s get married,” she wrote in Eat, Drink, and Remarry: Memories from a Lifetime of Art, Class, and Southern Charm, published on Tuesday, November 11.

“It’s a Southern thing that women need to be married by the time they’re 25 or they automatically become old maids. I still had a few years before my expiration date, but I’ve always been a risk-taker,” Altschul, now 84, wrote. “I couldn’t imagine having a better husband than Lon. And if I were wrong about that, I thought, ‘Well, there’s always divorce.’”

They wed in an “intimate ceremony with no pageantry,” Altschul recalled, noting that she wore a “short peach dress and a hat with a veil.” Smith “was thrilled because it was all so easy,” she wrote.

The former couple moved in together and Altschul “insisted” that they had separate bedrooms.

“People would be happier if they did that — they’d get more sleep because bed partners frequently snore and pull at the covers,” she explained. “And sleeping in separate bedrooms is very romantic.”

Altschul and Smith welcomed Whitney — who would go on to produce and star on Southern Charm — in June 1968.

“He was an easy child. He was a pleasure. He wasn’t difficult, he didn’t have tantrums,” Altschul told Us Weekly exclusively of her son while promoting the book. “He’s been a great comfort and a joy to me all these years.”

After about 15 years of marriage, Altschul and Smith split.

“Lon and I acknowledged our differences and moved forward, continuing as friends and coparents in the most amicable, responsible, and respectful ways,” she wrote, noting that Sudler-Smith’s “well-being” was their only concern in the divorce.