Weeks before Paige DeSorbo announced they had broken up, she was planning her future with Craig Conover.

The Southern charm The 35-year-old star spoke to PEOPLE in early December about his decision to quit drinking — a move motivated by a desire to “become more of a husband and father” for DeSorbo’s benefit — and opened up about his plans to marry him to get married Garden house star before confirming on December 30 that they had split.

“We’re playing the long game. It would be easy to go for instant gratification, but the foundation we’re building is that we’ll die together one day, not just that it’s fun,” he said of the 32-year-old DeSorbo. who he has been dating since 2021.

He continued, “We know we’ll get married one day, and when it happens it’ll be a lot of fun, but who knows whenever that is?”

“Once you get out of the pressure cooker and have some perspective and can travel, life becomes a little easier. There’s no reason to pressure it. I think people are going to have a lot more of our lives to watch because we take it with us on our time than if we rushed it.”

He also opened up about their efforts to be “healthier than a lot of other couples you see on TV” when it came to their on-screen relationship Southern charm, Garden house And Winter housewhere they had gone from a friendship to a romantic relationship.

“When people ask about me and Paige, Paige says it well and says, ‘I understand.’ “When I watch TV shows, I want to know that I’m a part of it,” he said. “We share our lives with everyone, but there is a lot of noise.”

Looking forward, Conover said he is “determined to do whatever it takes to make it work with DeSorbo.”

“We really don’t know what that looks like. We probably have a few years until we start having kids and then we’ll have to figure it out. But I’ve really taken on this normal role now of being a happy wife, happy life,” he said.

He also touched on their status as a long-distance couple, as he lives in Charleston while she lives in New York City.

“The goal is that when we start having children, we can stay home with them as much as possible,” he shared. “We had to make the decision: Do we live a traditional life with someone who is not the same and I find someone in Charleston or not? We decided that finding your person is the hard part and then we’ll figure it out later.”

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DeSorbo announced on a December 30 episode of her podcast that she and Conover had gone their separate ways. Giggly Squad. She said she “didn’t expect” the split and called him “definitely the best friend I’ve ever had” but assured there was no bad blood between them.

“I have so much love and respect for Craig. I think he is one of the best people I have ever met in my life. I will remain his biggest fan and want the best for him, and he will truly get the best because he is the best. she said. “Still, I think it was exactly the right decision for both of us to move forward in our lives and go in the direction of our lives that we didn’t force.”

“I love him, I think he loves me,” she added. “I think we will remain friends. Nobody did anything. It wasn’t a bad thing. I think we’ve both just been very mature and said what we want and what we don’t want, and I think it’s extremely powerful to be able to express how you feel and what you want for the future in real time. ”