What Is There to Know About Whitney Sudler Smith's Parents?

The stars of some of your favorite reality shows lead all kinds of interesting lives with families we love to keep up with. Whitney Sudler-Smith wears a number of different hats as a TV director, filmmaker, musician, and more. but you probbly know him as a star on Bravo's Southern Charm.

Whitney not only created Southern Charm, but he's also an executive producer and star of the show. But what is there to know about his personal life? Who are his parents, and what kind of impact did they have on his life?

Whitney was born to Patricia Altschul and Lon Hayes Smith. Patricia also stars on Southern Charm and her huge mansion is the backdrop for so much of the show. But aside from that, she's an author who has released her own lifestyle book titled The Art of Southern Charm. It is all about "etiquette and living a glamorous Southern lifestyle."

But Patricia is more than that. A New York Times article calls her a former NYC and Washington D.C. socialite with a life so many people can only dream of. She taught classes at art history at George Washington University in the 1960s and '70s. Later, she became a 19th-century American art private dealer in the 1980s. On top of that, Patricia has a line of products with HSN.

Whitney's father, Lon Smith, was Whitney's first husband. The two got together when she was 20 years old and were together for 15 years. In a Bravo blog post, it was revealed that they got divorced because the lives they wanted to lead were too different. While she was selling art, she says he wanted a wife who would entertain his clients. She's been married two more times but is currently divorced.

In The Art of Southern Charm, Patricia says that she and Lon met through a friend in D.C. when she was attending school at George Washington University. At the time, he was the head of a company called Dun & Bradstreet. Although he and Patricia eventually divorced, she said they always had a positive relationship.

"Every once in a while we argue who gets Whitney for Christmas, to this day. But it's always pleasant," Patricia said in an interview with The Daily Dish, . "He's a fabulous father, a lovely human being, quite successful, very smart. Whitney's very close to him."

Unfortunately, Lon is no longer with us. He passed in Aug. 2021 at 84 years old. He had a short battle with leukemia. According to Lon's obituary, he attended the University of West Virginia with a bachelor's in Business in 1959. He later moved to D.C. and worked for different financial institutions.

You can watch Southern Charm on Bravo on Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST