‘Southern Charm’ Star Admits to Sliding Into Cooper DeJean’s DMs Despite His Link to Nikki Garcia

Philadelphia Eagles player Cooper DeJean might be romantically linked to former professional wrestler Nikki Garcia, but that didn’t stop Salley Carson from taking a chance.

“I just slid into Cooper DeJean’s [DMs], football player for the Eagles,” the Southern Charm star, 31, said during the Tuesday, February 17, episode of the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast.

When host Amanda Hirsch asked if “he answered,” Carson replied, “Well, he’s, like, dating a 40, or not dating, casually seeing a 43-year-old right now.”

The Bravolebrity went on to explain that DeJean, 22, “liked two pictures” of hers on Instagram after she “liked” two photos of his and that’s what prompted her to slide into his DMs.

Carson confirmed that she does have the NFL star’s phone number.

“I think he’s so cute,” Carson went on. “He’s going to kill me. He DM’d me back pretty quickly.”

The reality TV star also said that she “told him ‘happy birthday’ like two days ago,” and Hirsch asked if she thought “anything would come of this.”

“I mean, I would love to meet him if he’s not dating her,” Carson answered, referring to Garcia. “There’s all these articles that they are dating, but in all of his interviews he’s like [saying no]. Now I’m scared because that girl’s going to beat my ass if they are dating.”

Garcia, who is actually 42, was first linked to DeJean in late 2025, and in January a source told TMZ that the two were “casually dating” and that they had a “mutual attraction” for one another.

As Star perviously reported. Garcia seemingly confirmed that she’s dating DeJean on the February 2 episode of WWE’s Monday Night RAW. “Can you blame a girl for having good taste? I mean Pro Bowl, baby!” Garcia told the crowd after they began chanting “Coop!”

She was previously married to Dancing with the Stars pro Artem Chigvintsev, and they share one son together. However, they split in August 2024 and finalized their divorce in November of the same year.