78-Year-Old 'Southern Charm' Star Patricia Altschul Dating 19-Year-Old
Young guys send her risque photos.
Instagram When Whitney Sudler-Smith developed an idea for a reality show about high-society life in Charleston, South Carolina, he invited his mother to be a part of the fun. At 78-years-old, Patricia Altschul has a sense of humor that friend describes as "somewhat cutting,” while adding that it's part of her charm. She has certainly charmed audiences of Southern Charm, who enjoy watching her drop witty one-liners, parade around her spectacular mansion wearing gorgeous caftans, and having a martini every day at precisely 5 pm.
Now Altschul is dishing about dating, being on tv, and the kind of fan mail she gets in a New York Times profile. Who is Patricia Altschul?
1. Long love life
Altschul, who is 78 now, married her first husband, Lon Smith, when she was 20-years-old and had her only child with him. They married in 1962 and divorced in 1979. Her second husband was Edward Stitt Fleming, the founder of the Psychiatric Institutes of America. They split after six years of marriage. Finally, in 1996, she married Arthur Goodhart Altschul, a partner in the investment banking firm of Goldman, Sachs and Company. They remained together until his death in 2002. After he died, she sold their Long Island mansion and returned to Charleston, purchasing the spectacular home currently seen on Southern Charm.
2. Divorce runs in the family
It turns out that the Altschul isn't the only one who has made multiple trips down the aisle. She says that her mother had been married before marrying her father, something Altschul didn't learn until she was an adult. She told the New York Times: "It was a big reveal. But my father’s family was much more upset about the fact that she was a Yankee than a divorcée.” Her mother never shared a lot about her first husband but what she said made an impact. "He was controlling, and she told me that he raised his voice to her,” she said. “That was it. Out the door. I tell these young girls who put up with stuff: My mother always said to me, ‘This man raised his voice to me and that was it.’”
She loves dogs.
3. Unlikely fan mail
While it makes sense that fans of the show would tune in for her tart-tongued dialogue and her interactions with her butler, Altschul has also gotten a taste of a different sort of fan attention. In a recent episode, her co-stars taught her the phrase "dick-pic" and she revealed to them that she has been on the receiving end of the unsolicited photos. She told the New York Times, “As it turned out, I was the only one getting them out of the group. I was impressed, too, when I heard they didn’t get any. They said, ‘Are they old men?’ And I said, ‘No, some of them are, like, 19-years-old.’”
4. Dating advice for younger women
Between her own marriages, her mother's life lessons and her new experience getting nudes by DM, Altschul has some good advice for young women on the dating scene now. She tells them not to worry about themselves but to really evaluate the men in their lives, saying: "He should be proving himself to her. Her main concern should be, ‘Is he good enough for me?’”
5. Nope to online dating
Despite what comes through her inbox, it's safe to say that Altschul probably won't be using Tinder or Match to find her next husband. In 2016, she told Town and Country that she was not a fan of online dating, saying "There is not much that shocks me anymore, but I have to admit that I find that whole thing disturbing. Men and women are wired differently, they have different DNA and I just don't think that women can be as sexually predatory as men. I do not think it empowers them."
She went on to say that she thinks men and women look at hookups differently, suggesting: "When a woman goes to a man's apartment because he has sent her an emoji of a piece of pizza and a glass of beer and they have sex and then the woman goes home the next day and never hears from the man again, I think it makes women feel bad and devalued. Men, I think, are impervious."
With all the thought she has put into relationships — not to mention the offers she's probably getting online — it's worth wondering if Altschul might consider one more marriage. However, she told the New York Times that she doesn't have any plans to find a new husband any time soon, saying "I don’t know if I’m ready to settle down just yet.”
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.