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Lindsay Hubbard revealed “red flags” leading up to her split with ex-fiancé Carl Radke, talked potentially filming with him next season, and if they could ever be friends.
Though the current season of Summer House was filmed during their engagement, Carl had cameras return to film him, calling it off. In a preview of the scene, Lindsay claimed she was blindsided – which Carl denied.
“I sat down on my couch [that day] looking to repair a conflict about careers and future finances,” said Lindsay of the breakup convo, in an interview with ET. “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 when 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,” Lindsay added. “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.”
She said the breakup was “one of the most traumatic situations of my entire adulthood,” and denied Carl’s claim that she was ‘blind’ to what led to the split.
“There was nothing over summer that indicated a breakup,” she insisted. “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 and about to be married in two months. You work through things, you don’t run away.”
Lindsay also called out how Carl, two weeks before the breakup, surprised her at her bridal shower – and affectionately celebrated her birthday with her.
“What happened in two weeks?” asked the star. “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!”
“[But] 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 said of why she didn’t fight. “You’ve already made it. It’s on you.”
Lindsay then addressed allegations that the split was manufactured for the show.
“I wish that could’ve been the case,” she laughed. “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.”
“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,” she went on. “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.”
“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?’” said Lindsay, reflecting on the summer. “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.”
She explained why the issue was so important.
“I think my level and expectation is, we’re planning a future. We have a very expensive wedding to pay for,” she said. “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…’”
“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,’” Lindsay continued. “And explaining that to a 38-year-old man is a little difficult.”
“There were definitely parts of myself that I lost inside my relationship,” she said. “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 also addressed a moment in the trailer when Carl claimed she was questioning his sobriety.
“A trailer is a trailer, right?” she said. “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].”
They now have little contact, though Carl pays half of their 10k-a-month apartment, whose lease was renewed for an additional year (another reason Lindsay says she felt blindsided). He still pays half the rent, and he asked Lindsay to return the ring. They discuss financial matters only through an attorney.
“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 said. “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.”
Lindsay said her priorities are now shifting.
“My definition of individual success changes as the years go on, right?” she explained. “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.’”
Though she’s glad she froze her eggs while in a relationship with Carl, she doesn’t plan on touching them soon, and she doesn’t expect she’ll enter parenthood single.
“Maybe the universe wants me running my own show and building my financial success as an individual,” Lindsay expressed, “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 [rental property].”
Lindsay, who is back in the dating world, still calls herself a “hopeless romantic,” but says she’s not adding pressure to find a man. Though she knows Carl won’t be her romantic partner again, she wasn’t so certain about potentially being friends again.
“I think about this often,” she said. “The only clear answer I could give you is… I don’t know … I could be so over it in four months … Or he could continue to make my life a living hell with the apartment that we have rent due every month…”
In four months, Lindsay may be filming the ninth season of Summer House with Carl – which she’s more than willing to do.
“Hell yeah!” she said. “Even when I’m in the same room as him 1708933436, 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,” said Lindsay. “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.’”
Despite her painful breakup, Lindsay found peace with the other women in the cast.
“I had a great summer with them,” said the star. “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.”
