Cooke said that his ex-wife and costar's relationship "definitely makes me second-guess a lot of things last summer"
NEED TO KNOW
- Summer House costars Amanda Batula and West Wilson confirmed on March 31 that they are romantically involved after weeks of speculation
- Batula’s ex-husband, Kyle Cooke, broke his silence in a TikTok clip posted April 1, saying he now sees her interactions with Wilson differently
- He called it a “mental mindf—” and said he’s “at a little bit of a loss [for] words”
Kyle Cooke is looking back on season 10 of Summer House with a totally different perspective after his ex-wife Amanda Batula and costar West Wilson confirmed they're romantically involved.
Cooke, who split from Batula in January after four years of marriage, broke his silence on his ex's new relationship on Wednesday, April 1.
In a clip posted on TikTok, he said that he doesn't "understand the timeline just yet" of the relationship between Batula and Wilson, but he is watching the current season of Summer House back in a new way.
"It definitely makes me second-guess a lot of things last summer. At a minimum, just how checked out she was," Cooke, 43, said of Batula.
As the season is still airing and new things are being revealed about last summer in real-time, he says it's a "mental mindf—" and he's "at a little bit of a loss [for] words."
Credit: Bryan Bedder/Bravo via Getty; Griffin Nagel/Bravo via Getty
Wilson's "body language and how touchy and handsy he is" with Batula has really stuck out to Cooke in recent episodes.
At the time, he said he "kinda just gave him a little bit of a hall pass," but he looks at it differently now. "I mean, candidly, his Watch What Happens [Live interview] and his confessionals in last week's episode — I could not believe that he went there."
In the March 31 episode of Summer House, which aired hours after Batula and Wilson put out their statement, Wilson played mediator between Cooke and Batula, and encouraged the Loverboy founder to apologize to his then-wife.
“I know that there's a lot of layers and depth to your relationship,” Wilson told Cooke in the episode after he called Batula a "f—ing dumbass bitch" in a drunk outburst. “But this was the only time where I thought objectively, you like we're being unnecessary, because nothing happened. That was just black and white, not the right thing. But that cannot be the correct way for you to get s— off your chest, and that was bad.”
In Batula and Wilson's statements, which they posted on March 31 after weeks of speculation, they wrote that it was never their "intention to purposely hide anything" but wanted to take "a little space to process things privately before speaking on it."
"We've shown up for each other as friends over the years, through all the highs and lows, and what's developed recently was the last thing either of us expected," the statement said. "Our connection grew out of a genuine, long-standing friendship, which made it especially important for us to approach this with care. As our feelings evolved, we wanted to take time to understand exactly what we were feeling. We also recognize that this has had an impact beyond just us and never wanted our actions to cause any hurt or be perceived as careless."
Credit: Griffin Nagel/Bravo via Getty
The Watch What Happens Live interview Cooke referenced took place on March 24. Andy Cohen asked Wilson point-blank about the romance speculation with Batula, to which he said, “We were just hanging out in New York. She’s single, I gotta show her the streets a little bit."
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He described Batula as "a very important person to me, and I care about her a lot,” and when pressed further, he said she was just a "friend."
In Cooke's reaction on April 1, he expressed concern for Batula. "I've talked to her — before they put the statement out, she gave me a heads-up, and I talked to her last night," Cooke said. "I understand people have all sorts of opinions, and I'm not justifying any behavior, but from where I'm standing, she's kind of getting cyber-bullied."
He continued, "I'm obviously disappointed in her, but just hearing her and how unwell she is — [having] dark thoughts — I just ask people to maybe let off the gas a little bit with the cyberbullying and hate. Amanda deals with mental health issues. Before cyber-bullying her and then giving West a follow, maybe think twice," he said.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.
Summer House airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
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