The name Thomas Ravenel is no doubt a popular one, he is famous as a politician and is well, numbered amongst the pool of talents in Hollywood. For those who may not be too familiar with him; as a public servant, Thomas was once elected as the State Treasurer for South Carolina in 2006. On the other hand as an actor, he is a popular face that appears as a part of the cast of the Bravo reality television series titled, Southern Charm. For more about his career and personal life, read on.
Thomas Ravenel Bio
Thomas Ravenel was born in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, on the 11th of August 1962, to parents Louise Rodgers and Arthur Ravenel Jr. He is not the only child of his parents as he has five other siblings(William Ravenel, Arthur Ravenel III, Eva Ravenel, Suzanne Ravenel, and Renée Ravenel Brockinton) making up a total of six children of which he is the sixth born. Interestingly, his father Arthur was a South Carolina Congressman. In 1981, Thomas was accepted into the Corps of Cadets at The Citadel where he earned himself a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1985. Following his graduation, he entered into the real estate business where he sojourned for the next four years.
In 1991, he moved on to earn a Masters’s degree in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina. The next year being 1992, Thomas relocated his real estate business to Atlanta where he began to concentrate on retail projects including freestanding, single-tenant stores, and strip-mall developments. He returned to Charleston in 1995.
Politics and Acting Career
Thomas Ravenel ran for the post of a U.S. Senate in 2004, where he sought to take the position which was left vacant when Fritz Hollings retired. However, he came third in the Republican primary elections that year. Luckily for him, he was elected as the South Carolina Treasurer in 2006, after defeating nine-term state treasurer and Democrat, Grady Patterson, in the general elections.
In 2007, Thomas was lauded as a rising political star, until he was indicted on federal cocaine charges and sent to a halfway house. He later tried to revive his political career by running for Senate in 2014 against the incumbent, Lindsay Graham. His campaign was largely televised and he was involved in a lot of questionable commercials in the process in an attempt to win people over at parades. Unfortunately, he lost the election with a surprising 3.9 percent of the total votes cast. So, this political rebound didn’t exactly go his way and it was speculated that people might not have taken him seriously due to his appearances on the American Talk Show, Watch What Happens: Live just a few months before he commenced his political campaign. In 2018 Thomas Ravenel joined the cast of the reality television series Southern Charm.
Girlfriend, Relationship with Ashley Jacobs, Married, Son
As a young man, Thomas Ravenel was the heartthrob of many young women in his prime but one woman who was lucky to be his wife was Mary Ryan (daughter of General Mike Ryan, the former United States Air Force general). They both tied the knot in the year 1995. Their union which initially seemed like it was made to last actually became strained quite early into their marriage. Three years after in 1998, the couple decided to call it quits and go their separate ways. While they were still married, they never had any children together.
The next lady he began dating was Kathryn Dennis in 2013. Interestingly, his girlfriend also featured him as an actress on the television series Southern Charm. Though they never got married officially, they had two children together, a son named, St. Julien Rembert Ravenel and a daughter named Kensington Calhoun Ravenel. The pair later broke up in 2015 but still share a good relationship as they co-parent and attend a few functions together with their kids.
After the break-up, Thomas Ravenel was single for a while but things changed early in May 2017 when he met Ashley Jacobs, a professional nurse. They began dating almost immediately unfortunately, they broke up the following year.
Though the two are still separated, they were reportedly seen entering the Vintage Lounge on King St. Charleston on the 31st of December 2018 where they had fun all night with their friends enjoying live music. This sparked the rumors that they might be coming back together as a couple. However, in contrast to this, a report disclosed that Jacobs wants to date someone within her age bracket with who she will possibly start a family. The report quoted its source saying that Jacobs won’t go into a romantic relationship with Thomas but they will remain in each other’s lives.
