Summer House star Amanda Batula exclusively opened up to Us Weekly about her surprising comments in the season 9 reunion trailer about having children with husband Kyle Cooke.
“He’s gonna have to be on my page. If he could grow the baby, it could be on his timeline. But it’s happening in this body,” she told Us while promoting Face Reality for Mental Health Awareness Month.
One of the most dramatic moments in the trailer released on Thursday, May 21, sees Amanda and Kyle clashing over “the future” of their relationship. Kyle insists that “everything” he’s doing career-wise is to “build a future,” before Amanda insists “there will be no future if all he does is work.”
When Amanda later insists that Kyle is “not ready to have kids,” her husband questions whether his wife is ready to start a family either.
“I’m ready to have kids with someone who’s ready to have kids with me,” Amanda shot back.
Amanda offered a bit more context on the disagreement, telling Us that she felt “frustration” about the way Kyle broached the subject of having kids throughout Summer House season 9.
“There was a lot of stuff on this season that was like, him wanting to be a father, and, like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but he’s having this conversation with other people, and not the person that’s supposed to carry his child,” she pointed out. “So if he was actively [saying], ‘Hey, I want to have kids. Like, we should start trying to have kids,’ that would be different. That’s not a conversation that we’re having.”
She went on, “[Kyle has] been DJing, he’s gone every weekend. Like, in what world exactly? I know that he wants to be a father one day, but I know he’s not ready. And if he was ready, you know, I think he would be like, ‘I’m ready to have a family.’”
Touching on some other memorable moments from the season, Amanda revealed what it was like watching costars Lindsay Hubbard and Carl Radke’s confrontation over her breakup anniversary IG post at the now-infamous “Freedom Dinner.”
“It’s moments like these that make me appreciate and love Lindsay so much, because it’s just chaos,” she recalled. “Because who in what world would you put together a dinner on the anniversary of your fiancé ending your relationship while he’s sitting at the same table? Literally, and making everyone eat? It was just such an iconic moment. She’s just reality TV gold. I’m obsessed with her. And I give Carl a lot of props for that.”
Amanda hinted that fans can expect many more dramatic moments from Lindsay next season even though her costar welcomed daughter Gemma in December 2024.
“Lindsay is not leaving our TV screens anytime. Even if she breaks into the house, she will make her way onto our TV screens,” Amanda joked. “We won’t let it happen for her to leave, um, but I don’t know what next summer looks like. We’re gonna have to see. I mean, she’s definitely gonna be there. Gemma should not come because Kyle’s music and antics are not as safe for babies. We haven’t baby proofed the house. But yeah it’s gonna be interesting. It might be different. We haven’t really heard yet, so we’ll see.”
Amanda promised “a lot of laughs” at the season 9 reunion, even at times there “shouldn’t have been” much to laugh about.
Away from Summer House, Amanda reflected on how she started focusing on her mental health after working with Face Reality Skincare on intense skin breakouts.
“When I went off birth control, my skin got really, really bad,” she explained. “I was breaking out so severely. And I was also filming while I was going through these breakouts. I couldn’t figure out my skin. And then once I finally sort of got it under control, my skin was never the way that it was before I went off birth control, so still dealing with breakouts, just the texture, everything was different.”
She continued. “[Paige DeSorbo] from the show actually had been working with Face Reality, and I saw what it did for her skin. And when they reached out to me too, I was like,’ Yes, please. I need to get this acne under control. I need to figure it out for good.’”
Amanda clarified that her skin issues weren’t “the leading factor” in mental health issues, though acne did keep her “indoors and not wanting to go out.” (Amanda has spoken in the past about taking antidepressant medication to manage depression.)
“When you don’t feel good, when you have one pimple, you think everyone can see it, and then when you have 20, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, my whole face is one big pebble. [I’m] not leaving the house,’” she noted. “So [my skin] definitely played a role in my depression, too. So once I was on my antidepressants and feeling better, it’s like, ‘Okay, now the next step is to really tackle my skin’ and Face Reality has been an absolute saving grace. It really helped me get my confidence back.”
She recalled, “I was breaking out again, the way that I was in high school, and I was like, ‘I’m too old for this.’ I saw a doctor. [They said], ‘You have adult acne.’ I was like, Okay, great. But, what’s the solution? Like, what do we do about it? Yeah? Like, I need to do something. And Face Reality came in and saved the day. This is truly incredible. There’s so many good things, and there’s something for everyone. Like, you don’t need to be on a super strong acne regimen, right?”
“Something like spot treatments just around your like your period or cycle, or when you have a breakout, it doesn’t have to be something super strong. But then there are those options too for people that have a lot more acne and are really trying to take care of it,” she pointed out. “I love it. It’s super custom [treatment].”
Amanda acknowledged that there is “no secret sauce” to prioritizing mental health though she stressed the importance of self-care.
“I think like keeping busy and doing things for me, I feel like my head was down for so long,” she said. “And, I went to school for graphic design. I was a graphic designer that was, like, my whole thing, and I was working in design with [husband Kyle’s beverage company] Loverboy, but it wasn’t the stuff I wanted to be doing.”
She explained, “I needed some more of my own creative outlet, things for me that I was passionate about, and that’s what I started to do. And I feel like that’s been really helpful for me to focus on my own projects. And the things that bring me joy, that I’m interested in. I think that’s been something [helpful], like keeping busy.”
“I’ve been traveling so much this month for work. This is my fourth time in L.A,” she revealed. “I should have just rented an apartment. But normally I would have crashed out. I would have said no to all these opportunities. I would have turned them down. But here I am! I was [up at] 4am ET time this morning, and I’m here now. I feel great. I leave tomorrow and then I have a few other things during the week, and then Saturday and Sunday, I will probably hibernate [and] just sleep. We need a day. And that’s okay. It’s balanced, Were not all Kyle Cooke you know?”
Summer House season 9 reunion begins on Bravo Wednesday, May 28, at 9 p.m. ET. Part two will air on the network Wednesday, June 4, at the same time.
