Michols Peña Is Revolutionizing Bravo’s ‘Southern Hospitality’ With Vulnerability & Visibility

Photograper: Zac Olewnicki; Wardrobe Stylist: Indigo Boy David; Production Designer: Kole Parchman; Makeup Artist: Miryam Diaz; Shoot Location: Lamar’s Sporting Club; Producer and So.Gay Founder and CEO: Alex Hughes; Special Thank You To: Cory Anderson, Michael Beck, and Leva Bonaparte; Interview: Gibson Johns

It’s hard to believe that Michols Peña has only been on Bravo for just over a year, because the Southern Hospitality star already feels so engrained into the Charleston-set reality show. So much so that it’s difficult to imagine a time before he was on it—emotionally opening up about how being gay has strained his relationship with his family, pushing story forward as a central part of his cast’s drama with one another and running shit as a manager at Republic, the nightclub that the show centers on.

During his first two seasons on SoHo—which is the current show that any diehard Bravoholic would be the first to urge you “not to sleep on”—Michols has proven to be an adept reality star, almost compulsively honest about his life. And it’s not just the dedicated fans that have taken notice.

Earlier this year, Southern Hospitality won the award for Outstanding Reality Program at the 2026 GLAAD Media Awards. Michols was there to accept the award on behalf of the series alongside best friend and costar Lake Rucker as well as his manager Leva Bonaparte, who serves as the show’s quasi-Lisa Vanderpump figure. It was a major moment not just for Southern Hospitality, but also for Bravo as a whole. And the network’s well-earned recognition for being at the forefront of visibility on reality TV simply wouldn’t have happened without Michols and his vulnerability on camera.

Part of Michols’ personal storyline on season 4 has centered around him stepping into his own and more fully embracing his sexuality. One of the ways he’s done that is by posing for SO.GAY’s latest cover, which will be revealed on this week’s episode after the accompanying photo shoot was featured earlier in the season.

To complement the cover, Gibson Johns caught up with Michols on behalf of SO.GAY to talk about his evolution on Southern Hospitality, how reality TV has impacted his relationship with his family, making Bravo even more gay than it already was and much more.

So.GAY: Michols! You’re on SO.GAY’s latest cover… how does it feel to be a cover star now?

Michols: I hope it’s the first of many more to come. It was honestly really exciting finding out about it in the moment and then getting to do it was really cool. Modeling is something I’ve always wanted to get into. So it just kind of felt right—the timing was so convenient right when we were shooting the season—and it was really nice to get it on camera.

SO.GAY: In the episode of Southern Hospitalitywith your photo shoot, you’re really excited about it, but there’s also this bittersweet element when you take into consideration your relationship with your mom, and we watch you have this difficult phone call with her on set as a result. Talk to me about how you were feeling in that moment, because it seems as though she didn’t want to be on camera and that she has a weird relationship with the show.

Michols: Before we filmed, I had already prepped her and was like, “Hey, we’re going to be filming this day, I’m filming something cool, and I want you to see it. It’s gonna be on camera, and I just need you to answer a FaceTime call.” She was all for it. And then the day came, and then she just kind of was like, “I don’t want to be on the phone.” She just did not want to be on camera, so it was just kind of like, okay, I kind of have to just swallow it and be cool with it. Like, these people are here from New York shooting me. I can’t just sit here and have a diva dip and tweak out on them. 

I think in that moment too, I just really wanted to feel validated. Growing up, there were so many times where like I felt unseen and not valued or appreciated, and so I think that was just one of those moments where I just wanted some recognition for stepping out of the box and doing something different. That’s really what I was looking for, and I didn’t get it. I think it also just hurt a little more because my family’s not really fond of me working in the nightlife space. They don’t like it, so being able to go and do something different is the approach that I was trying to take to finally get that where they’d be like, “I’m really proud of you,” and I didn’t get that.

SO.GAY: How do you balance viewing it as them not supporting you and also reminding yourself that they might not want to be part of the show aspect of your life to maintain their own privacy?

Michols: I have to remind myself that I can’t force my family to be a part of this, because this isn’t a part of their life. This is a part of my life. It’s honestly been a really hard pill to swallow over time. My mom’s become more open, and later on in the season, you’ll see we film together, so that will be really interesting to watch and to see her perspective. I also have a twin sister, and she came to film with me, as well. So just getting more family to be on the scene was really nice this year, but also really interesting. It’s baby steps.

So.GAY: Can you speak a little bit to the balance of wanting their approval and maintaining a closeness to them, while also not sacrificing who you are and the life you want to be living? That’s something that a lot of queer people deal with.

Michols: It all stems from my parents coming to this country and providing a life for my sister and I and my other siblings. It makes my sister and I proud—them being able to do that—because stuff like that is not easy, especially with everything going on in the world. So being able to give back to them in a way that makes the sacrifice and them leaving their countries worth it, where their children are successful and they’re thriving. That’s kind of my driving point. Now I’m more at peace with the fact that…if my mom isn’t proud of me because of my career choices or my life choices, then it’s just kind of whatever at this point. Maybe it’ll come in the future, maybe it won’t.

So.GAY: But it’s also not like you aren’t thriving. You have so many things going on and you’re on this upward trajectory. Maybe it’s not the version of it that they had in their minds of you being a doctor or having a corporate job, but it would be silly for you to not follow whatever this is going to lead to for you.

Michols: Yeah, I got to a point where, like, if me pursuing something else careerwise still isn’t gonna make you happy, I don’t know what will. So I can’t just sit here every single day and beat myself down, especially when I’m going out and accomplishing so many other things that people would kill for. 

SO.GAY: Viewers are going to get to see your SO.GAY cover reveal party at Republic this season, which I’m sure will also reflect how much support you have outside of your family in Charleston. That must’ve been fairly reassuring, showing that you have such a vibrant community around you.

Michols: That moment was just surreal. I have been working at Republic for the past three years, and we’ll have a Pride party on the patio June, but that’s kind of it. So to have shot this closer to the fall and  be able to throw an event and actually feel a sense of community from the people who came out and supported was very heartwarming. 

SO.GAY: This is just your second season, and it already feels as though you’re very embedded into the show, and you’ve been so open and uninhibited. This season, though, your openness has been at another level. I’m curious if that speaks to you feeling more comfortable on camera than the first season or to this being simply a natural extension of you coming into your own even more?

Michols: My first year filming the show, I remember nothing was shown from my first week of filming, and I think that was because I would continuously second-guess myself and wasn’t speaking up enough. I just wasn’t being myself to my fullest potential, I would say. So coming into the season, I had just gotten out of a relationship, and there were a lot of dynamic changes made, a lot of things happening, a lot of things that were happening at work, a lot of new faces. 

From filming last season to now, I had to push myself to gain a lot of self-confidence and get my power back, because I found myself going to a really dark place, especially after my relationship ended. So being able to do that and own it and be 10 times more comfortable showing more gay representation and what it’s like to be a person of color in the South was a game changer, especially watching it back and seeing how it comes across. I have good moments, bad moments, funny moments, sad moments and watching them all feels nice.

SO.GAY: What’s your relationship like to those less flattering moments? How do you feel watching those back know the world is also seeing those moments? 

Michols: Watching them back is difficult, but I also feel like I’ve healed from it because they happened so long ago. You watch it and you’re like, “Oh, my God, I can’t believe I did that.” My reactions are real and still valid, though, because I’m only human. I can only react the specific way that I would react. I can’t be perfect all the time, and I think that that’s something I have to teach myself this year compared to last year. I got a great edit last year, and then this year you see more of me just in general and I can’t have a perfect season every season. 

SO.GAY: Having both you and TJ on the show together is obviously really fun, and it also makes the show feel overtly gay. And that’s kind of a new thing for Bravo, which is a weird thing to say, but we don’t see two gay people like kiki together very often on the network. We’re hearing you talk about, tops and bottoms and Grindr and hookup culture, which may be basic stuff for us as gay guys, but nobody’s talking about gay dating on Bravo. They even put up that fake Grindr graphic once to show your dating profile! [Laughs]

Michols: Oh, my God. I literally said to them, “I’ve never been on Grindr, but okay.” I sent them all of my photos from Raya!

SO.GAY: Did talking more openly about these sorts of topics on camera require any kind of push for you and TJ? Or did it just feel natural for you to do so?

Michols: It’s really where I am right now. After that first year and getting a lot of support helped me gain a lot of self-confidence. And then getting out of that relationship, it was just kind of like, “Okay, well, summer is coming. What am I going to do? Stay in the house?” Like, yeah, no, I’m going to go outside and have fun and make new friends and meet guys. So I feel like if I was still in that same headspace that I was last year or even in a relationship, we wouldn’t even be having those conversations. I would have just been sitting there, like, “Oh, yeah, well, I’m gonna go to the park with my boyfriend, and we’re gonna hold hands and talk about how nice the weather is.” Nobody wants to see that.

SO.GAY: Do you feel like not being in a relationship was the right thing for you at this point in your life to really explore and find more out about yourself?

Michols: Yeah, for sure, I definitely think that I should have gone into this experience being single and staying single just because I didn’t realize how much I would have changed during that small six-month time period of not filming and then picking up cameras again.

SO.GAY: What are your DMs like?

Michols: Oh, they’re horrible. Crazy.

SO.GAY: In a good way?

Michols: It’s just very direct. It’s very…photo first. I’m like, “We can’t even get a ‘hello’ around here.?

SO.GAY: Whatever happened to, “Hello, my name is”?

Michols: [Laughs] No, literally, what happened to it?!

SO.GAY: You were at the GLAAD Awards earlier this year with Leva and Lake when Southern Hospitalitywon in the reality category. Seeing you all there together was so special, and I felt proud as a viewer and a supporter of the show. Talk to me about that moment and how you were feeling—there has to be a level of validation that comes from a moment like that!

Michols: That day was so bittersweet and weird. I get chills right now talking about it. Leva was like, “We need to prepare a speech, just in case we win.” And I was sitting and I was like, “I don’t think we’re gonna win. It’s our first year.” You never expect to win on your first year. We’re at the GLAAD Awards, and everybody’s eating, but I’m like, “I can’t eat. I feel anxious.” Then the category comes up, and they called our name out, and I was like, “Oh, my God.” My mouth was wide open at the table. I was in shock. 

Being able to go up there and for our show to be recognized? I mean, the GLAAD Awards is freaking huge, and the amount of people that were there, it was just like being in a room full of icons. Being able to see other people that have been on Drag Race and The Traitors and other reality TV stars…freaking Demi Lovato was there performing! It was just the craziest thing. I’m still kind of speechless, because it still doesn’t feel real.

SO.GAY: Well, the show has always spotlighted people from so many backgrounds, but this win came after your first season where one of the central storylines was you opening up a lot. So I hope that one of the things you ultimately will take from that is that there’s a lot of power in what you’re sharing, even if it is sometimes not the easiest thing to watch back. Your story is clearly hitting the right people, and it’s helping people.

Michols: Winning that made me feel like all of the work in opening up and talking about things was worth it. I don’t think I would have ever talked about any of that stuff. If I wasn’t on the show, it maybe would’ve taken me another five to 10 years. It was just extremely rewarding, and it made opening up 10 times more worth it. 

People will DM me all the time, and they’ll be like, “Your vulnerability is your superpower. I love how vulnerable you are on the show.” Then other people reach out and say, “I’m watching Southern Hospitality, and I love your story. Thank you so much for sharing. You made me feel seen, and you encouraged me to come out.” Or they’ll be like, “What should I say to my family? I’m nervous about coming out, but I want to do it soon.”