Southern Charm star Olivia Flowers has revealed her brother Conner’s cause of death following his tragic passing at age 32.
A coroner ruled that Conner died following an accidental fentanyl overdose, Olivia revealed during an interview with People.
Flowers described how her brother had developed an addiction to prescription medication after turning to the medication to alleviate his Lyme disease symptoms.
‘My brother hated talking about his illness,’ she told the publication. ‘So many people, even in his close circle, didn’t know about his Lyme. So again, to hear he died of a fentanyl overdose, there’s immediately going to be this assumption that he was partying. Conner wasn’t like that. This was a relapse. This was his means to survive.’
Conner’s symptoms with Lyme disease began manifesting when he was just 15, but he was misdiagnosed and instead prescribed painkillers for his chronic pain and medication to treat his related anxiety.
Southern Charm star Olivia Flowers has revealed her brother Connor’s cause of death following his tragic passing at age 32
‘He started depending, at a very young age, on this prescription medicine to feel normal. And we as a family started to see this toll it took on his body,’ Olivia described.
Sadly, the pain he endured kept him from playing golf, a sport he loved and excelled in. Conner attended college on a golf scholarship and was even ranked in state.
However, the symptoms forced him to stop competing in regular tournaments and ultimately drop out altogether.
‘It just changed him,’ Olivia said. ‘The symptoms he had from Lyme, they were debilitating.’
A functional medicine doctor Conner was referred to eight years into his health battle finally began addressing the root of his issues rather than temporary, surface-level solutions.
By that point, however, Conner had become addicted to the opioids and Xanax he was taking to treat his pain, and his internal health had suffered due to the Lyme disease.
‘Now, not only was he getting treatment for Lyme, but he was also in rehab dealing with getting off this medicine,’ she said.
‘Nobody wanted to get better more than Conner did,’ Olivia said. ‘It was just such a hard time. We are very, very close as a family. We were all very involved and rallied round him. But for years he was just in and out of rehab, trying so hard to get on the other side of this.’
A coroner has determined that Conner died following an accidental fentanyl overdose
Olivia also said her brother was not in denial. ‘He always maintained that he had a problem,’ she said. ‘It was never a fight to get him to go to rehab; anytime my parents would get him help, it was because asked for it. He wanted to stop this.’
Olivia recalled with fondness how well he was doing in the winter of 2021-2022. At the time, he was residing at a wellness center in Arizona to focus on treatment for his Lyme disease and addiction.
‘He was in the best shape I’d seen him in years,’ she said. ‘We had all gone up there to spend Christmas with him and he was completely clean. He just looked and felt great.
‘My brother, he had such a hunger for life and an entrepreneurial spirit. He loved to work. He had huge dreams he wanted to accomplish. And he was talking about his plans to move to Dallas, Texas, where he already had jobs lined up.’
Olivia learned her brother had passed shortly after she got off the phone with him. They had plans to have dinner together at their family’s home in Isle of Palms, but no one appeared to be at the house when she arrived and she ended up leaving.
‘It was just so crazy,’ she said. ‘We were on the phone not even an hour earlier. And then… he’s gone.’
She also recalled just how beloved her brother was by all. Conner tragically passed on January 30, 2023.
‘My brother, he was very lively and loved bringing people together; he literally made friends everywhere we’d go. Even when we went on vacation, we’d go down the hotel lobby to get breakfast and he knew everyone by name. He was this 6’5″ beautiful guy who had the biggest heart.’
The death has also touched the cast of Southern Charm – a recent episode saw the cast learning about Conner’s death and supporting Olivia.