'Summer House' star Lindsay Hubbard opens up to ET about feeling 'blindsided' by that on-camera breakup and more from season 8.
Lindsay Hubbard's never shied away from facing reality, but having to relive her own on season 8 of Summer House might test that.
"I'm nervous, I really am," the reality star, 37, confesses to ET, sitting down inside her newly purchased home in Nashville. Season 8 documents the journey to the altar for Lindsay and longtime co-star Carl Radke, 39; but there isn't a fairy-tale ending for the two. Days after filming wrapped last August, cameras went back up to capture a conversation between Carl and Lindsay, during which Carl called off their wedding.
"I sat down on my couch looking to repair a conflict about careers and future finances," Lindsay recalls of what she thought she was filming that day. "I was like, OK, we have to get on the same page. Like, we had this conflict the other day about what we're doing in life and how we're making money, and that's what I sat down thinking that we were repairing, the conflict. And he sat down with a very different vibe."
"It's gonna be tough to relive," she says. "I just have to keep reminding myself that I've already lived it. It's the past, and I have so much going on in the present and the future -- and the future's really bright for me."
Lindsay calls the split "one of the most traumatic situations of my entire adulthood," maintaining she was blindsided by Carl's decision. In the trailer, which features a sneak peek at the breakup, Carl narrates Lindsay's immediate reaction, real-time predicting her describing it as a "blindside" when, he says, she was simply blind to what had gone on between them over the course of the summer.
"There was nothing over summer that indicated a breakup," she hits back. "It was a normal relationship. You fight, you have conflict, you have arguments and you communicate and work through it, especially when you're at that level of a relationship, where you're engaged, about to be married in two months. You work through things, you don't run away."
Lindsay points out that, just two weeks before the split, she had a bridal shower, at which Carl made a surprise appearance. Then, they celebrated her birthday together, including, she notes, public displays of affection by him on Instagram.
"What happened in two weeks?" she asks. "I don't know. And also, how do you flip a switch that quickly, unless you're either faking it, pretending? ... So yeah, of course I'm blindsided. I'm planning a wedding. The whole season is me planning a wedding!"
Lindsay says she didn't fight to save the relationship in that moment, because she could tell Carl's mind was made up.
"When someone makes a very clear decision for themselves, I'm never gonna be the one to beg you not to make that decision," she says. "You've already made it. It's on you."
She's quick to shut down speculation any of this was scripted or staged, firing back at critics who question the timing of it as convenient. Lindsay's breakup came in the wake of sister show Vanderpump Rules' "Scandoval," the highly publicized split of castmates Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval due to Tom's cheating with co-star Rachel (née Raquel) Leviss. Other Bravo shows, including Southern Charm and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, also featured surprise scandals and splits in the months after Scandoval, adding fuel to the fire that the network was somehow generating manufactured drama.
"I wish that could've been the case," Lindsay laughs. "I think people sometimes forget that I'm not just a character on a TV show. I'm a human, and this is my real life."
In the six months since, Lindsay's been able to unpack a lot of what led to that fateful conversation, and acknowledges there were issues in their relationship.
"This was my best friend," she explains. "I thought that I knew everything about him; I was in love with Carl for many years before we were ever together, like, he's such a lovable guy, he's like an oversized teddy bear, and I think because of how much I was in love with him, I put on blinders to the red flags in regards to our future and then, after everything was said and done and we broke up and the space that I got between the relationship and myself as an individual, you uncover all the red flags that you were putting blinders up against and that's essentially what happened."
In the premiere, airing Thursday on Bravo, Lindsay makes mention of Carl not being super involved in wedding planning. She says that's indicative of their relationship at large, with her keeping the big picture in mind at all times.
"Once Carl left [his job at co-star Kyle Cooke's company] Loverboy, and I know he's back at Loverboy now, but it was just, it was a lot of me trying to be like, 'OK, what do you want to do?'" she recalls. "Now is the time. We don't have any kids. There's not a lot of attachments, what's something that you've always wanted to do in your entire life, career-wise? Now is the time."
"I'm a very self-driven, self-motivated, hard-working girl," she continues, "and that's not to take away from him being hard-working at all, but I think my level and expectation is, we're planning a future. We have a very expensive wedding to pay for. You want kids, I want kids, great. We're aligned on that. But guess what? Kids cost a fortune. I talked to all of my friends who have little babies at home, and toddlers, and they're like, 'Oh my god, money just disappears...' You have to plan for that, and part of planning for that is setting yourself up financially. Part of setting yourself up financially is making money."
"My dad, who I'm very close with, has always been like ... 'Look, just take care of your finances and when you need to plan for your future, make sure you financially plan...'" she adds, "and explaining that to a 38-year-old man is a little difficult."
Lindsay lost bridal-themed brand deals and other income (the wedding was set to be filmed for Bravo) in the wake of the split. She's hoping to make some of that back with her new home, an investment property called "Hubb House" she'll rent out for short-term stays. Throwing herself into the design project proved to be the perfect escape to find herself again, especially after her castmates' season 7 commentary that she was changing herself to fit into the relationship with Carl.
"They weren't wrong," she laughs, a change in response from last year, when she defended her "evolution" as a sign of compromise in her relationship.
"There were definitely parts of myself that I lost inside my relationship," she admits. "I lost my free spirt. I'm a very free-spirited, fun-loving girl who just wants to laugh and giggle and have a fun time. I think part of that was growing up, you know? And growing up in an adult relationship with a man who's sober."
Lindsay says her focus was on making sure Carl felt comfortable in their relationship. Viewers will see some some discussion about his sobriety on season 8, with Carl confiding in the guys of the house about an incident with Lindsay during which, he claims, she asked if he was using anything again. Carl's been open about his past abuse of cocaine and alcohol, but is now three years clean.
"A trailer is a trailer, right?" she replies when asked about the tougher moments featured in the sneak peek. "There's a lot of background to every single conversation that you'll see throughout the season. ... I knew about that conversation, I knew that it upset me in the moment when I heard about it over the summer. Watching it? I'm just like, thank god I don't have to deal with this [anymore]."
Lindsay's had little contact with Carl since their split. She's still living in their $10,000-a-month shared apartment, from which he moved out of sometime before BravoCon in November of last year. They renewed the lease for another year a month before the breakup, another reason, she says, that it all felt like a blindside. A lawyer mediates financial issues -- Carl's still paying half the rent, as far as Lindsay knows, and asked for the engagement ring back -- so Lindsay can focus on herself.
"I've been so focused on Carl for two years, and making sure that as an adult he is good, and that we are together and aligned and planning for our future," she notes. "One of us had to do it, it was me driving the ship all the time. And that I don't have to do that, I don't wanna deal with him. Like, you're not my problem anymore, so talk to my attorney."
For the two years they were together as a couple, Carl seemed to be the missing part of Lindsay's puzzle or, rather, her "Timeline 4 Life." She's created a new vision for herself without him.
"My definition of individual success changes as the years go on, right?" she says. "I'm pivoting my individual success, so if I'm putting too much pressure on the 'engagement, marriage, babies' portion of it, then maybe that's not what the universe wants for me.'
Lindsay froze her eggs while with Carl, a decision she says she's grateful for in hindsight. However, she doesn't plan to touch those for a while, and doesn't expect to become a mom on her own.
"Maybe the universe wants me running my own show and building my financial success as an individual," she says, "and, to be honest, I'm very grateful the universe stepped in, because here we are in Nashville sitting in my beautiful, well-designed, big home."
Lindsay still self-describes as a "hopeless romantic" and is dating (largely in Nashville), but she's not putting the pressure on to find a guy. The only thing she knows for sure is that Carl's never reentering the picture, at least not as her partner. As a friend? That's to be determined.
"I think about this often," she sighs. "The only clear answer I could give you is... I don't know."
"I could be so over it in four months," she says. "Or he could continue to make my life a living hell with the apartment that we have a rent due every month..."
Those "four months" she mentioned would roughly mark the start of summer. Lindsay's down to return to Summer House and film season 9 with her ex.
"Hell yeah!" she exclaims. "Even when I'm in the same room as him [now], I puff my chest and make sure I wait 'til he's in the smallest doorway possible, so that he can feel my presence. Like, absolutely. Let's go!"
"I think people are gonna want to see everything play out with Carl and I," she says. "It's the No. 1 question that I get from friends from family, they're like, 'What's gonna happen next summer? I'm like, 'I don't know. I can't think about that right now.'"
After eight seasons of being "di-rect," as she says it, Lindsay finally feels some harmony with the house. She praises once-estranged bestie Danielle Olivera and season 7 newbie Gabby Prescod with getting her through the summer, the breakup and its aftermath, and even gives kudos to sometime frenemies Amanda Batula, Paige DeSorbo and Ciara Miller for how they've been there to support her.
"I had a great summer with them," she shares. "I don't know what I would have done without every single girl in that house last summer, because they were my support system and they were there to give me advice and hype me up."
"Maybe timing didn't work out with Carl, and never will again, but the timing with the girls really worked out," she adds.
Summer House airs Thursdays on Bravo at 9 p.m. ET/PT, starting Feb. 22. Episodes stream next day on Peacock. To rent Lindsay's new Nashville pad, join the wait list at HubbHouseNashville.com.
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