Nick Viall and his wife Natalie Joy are under fire over the way they questioned Austin Kroll about his sister’s shocking death.
The “Southern Charm” star appeared on the couple’s podcast, “The Viall Files,” on Wednesday. The interrogation began when Joy awkwardly brought up Kroll’s sister Kyle. Kyle died when he was 9 years old when he fell off a cliff while on a family hiking trip.
Joy told Kroll: “I jumped right out of Southern Charm and I’m going to jump right back into it, but when you were growing up, I didn’t know about your sister, who died when you were nine years old.”
Kroll replied, “Okay, I’ll switch gears.”
Joy went on to ask more personal questions, such as how old he was when the tragedy occurred, to which Kroll replied that he was 7 years old.
Ms. Viall later asked whether Ms. Kroll’s younger sister, Katie, who was born a year and a half after Kyle died, had a spiritual connection to the older sister she never met. Kroll said he never asked Katie, but he was sure Katie did.
At this point, Joy jumped in to ask the Bravo star if he was there when his sister fell, and after he answered “yes,” she asked for more details.
“What was this cliff?” she asked.
Kroll, who looked uncomfortable as he continued to shake his legs, declined to reveal the name of the town where the incident occurred. He further added that the town was destroyed by a hurricane.
“That incident did not make me lose my love for my family,” he said.
Fans and fellow Bravo celebrities took to social media to condemn Viall and Joy’s interrogation.
Kroll’s “Southern Charm” co-star Rodrigo Reyes said of Joy, “She’s a POS.”
“The Valley” star Janet Caperna criticized the interview in an Instagram post, commenting, “This is so funny…even for them.”
Another said: “‘What was this cliff?'” Did she seriously ask that? ”
Some fans were furious on Kroll’s behalf.
“I was furious when I saw the clip about his sister. Damn those people!!!” one fan wrote.
Another fan said: “I was actually mad at him. He responded like a gentleman.”
A representative for Kroll declined to comment when contacted by Page Six.
