Joe Bradley is “pressing the breaks” on his months-long, whirlwind romance with Danielle Olivera.
After hitting things off with the 35-year-old Summer House cast member at BravoCon in November 2023, Joe, 28, of Southern Hospitality, is admitting that the two of them moved “too fast” while also expressing confusion over where they stand and reacting to recent claims of a rendezvous with Real Housewives of New York City star Luann de Lesseps, 58.
“I was kind of telling my friends and my mom earlier, I adore Danielle and I’ve never hit it off with someone so fast to the point where she’s been to Charleston twice,” Joe began to Us Weekly on January 23. “This is my third time up here [in New York City] and even if I wasn’t here for [Watch What Happens Live], I would’ve come up to visit her this week. But, I think we moved a little too fast.”
While Danielle is seven years older than Joe, he confirmed the gap “doesn’t matter.”
“I think what stage in your life matters,” he explained. “My career is just getting started in [the] food and bev [industry], and I think, hopefully, I’m going to own my own business [one day]. She already owns her own [Donne fashion] app … She has free time. I can come in here during the week, come up here and she can kind of beat her own drum and she calls a shot.”
As Joe continues to work as the VIP manager of Southern Charm cast member Leva Bonaparte’s Republic Lounge & Garden, he’s starting to slow things down with Danielle.
“[I’m] kind of pressing the brakes a little bit,” he revealed. “I just want to make sure we’re in the right place before I’m officially, like, ‘I’m your boyfriend, you’re my girlfriend.’ I don’t want to get hurt. But more importantly, I don’t want to see her get hurt, and I just want to be in the best place possible before we make a hard launch.”
In addition to gushing over how much “[Danielle] loves her family and her friends,” applauding her “amazing work ethic,” and highlighting her ability to balance her work life and party life, Joe said that Danielle is “the only person” he’s dating.
“That’s what I think we’re figuring out right now,” he said of becoming official with his fellow Bravolebrity. “So we’re still a little confused, but the one thing we’re not confused about is that we have feelings for each other.”
According to Joe, Danielle, who split from ex-boyfriend Robert Sieber in the fall of 2022, “ignited [a] conversation” about their next step, but he wasn’t quite ready to move forward.
“I think I just need to be more disciplined myself, be a better communicator,” he shared. “If I’m going to call her my girlfriend, I need to communicate like she deserves. I need to communicate [as] a boyfriend, and I just don’t know if I’m there yet. I’m getting pulled from all angles at the club. I just have a lot going on and I just need to make sure I’m at a place where I can prioritize her.”
Also during the interview, Joe spoke of the second season of Southern Hospitality.
“I just think this season is bigger and crazier than it’s ever been,” he teased. “And I think we’re all just kind of getting our footing. We’re also still a lot closer and a lot more has happened in our friend group and with the dynamic and the tides change in the friend group, it just is a whole different dynamic.”
As for Joe’s alleged run-in with Luann, a supposed insider told Us Weekly they were “all over each other” at the Dream Hotel in New York City on Wednesday. As the source alleged, the outing came after Joe and Luann were spotted “getting flirty” during a pre-taped episode of Watch What Happens Live set to air on January 25.
However, according to another source, who spoke to Page Six, “this is just a rumor and is not true.”
Following the sharing of the reports, Joe took to his Instagram Story to share a statement.
“We were with a big group of people at the hotel bar after WWHL… Danielle was there too. Nothing happened. Please move on!!” he wrote in his since-deleted post, via Queens of Bravo on Instagram.
Danielle also seemed to react, writing on her own Instagram Story, “In what world.”
