Before Summer House Season 9 really got underway, it seemed as though the summer might not be so fun for Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke, as they battled through marital issues in a previously unaired scene.
The Summer House: Under the Covers special, which featured unexpected, never-before-seen moments from the season, included a tense, pre-season conversation during which Amanda brought up how Kyle sometimes being "out 'til 4:00 in the morning" would lead to arguments that "triggered" her anxiety and depression. When she asked why he thinks she has "a hard time trusting" him, he bluntly replied, "Because you associate me going out, drinking, [and] socializing with me cheating."
Explaining that rumors of Kyle cheating have been swirling for five years, she responded, "Reading it, that initial hurt is just as bad as whether or not it's true."
Though the Loverboy founder instantly dubbed the infidelity claims "bulls–t," his wife of three years pointed out, "There's not rumors about every other couple out there. It's only you because you put yourself in compromising situations."
What's more, Amanda added, "For how many rumors there have been over the years, sometimes it's really hard for me to, like, fully accept that absolutely none of them are true. I only have your word for it."
Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke break down their relationship issues
As Kyle saw it, "part of the problem" between him and Amanda was that they are "never together" and "do not have a social life." He elaborated, "The biggest issue, I feel, is that our friendship has dissipated to the point where that's what I feel like this summer actually needs to be about: getting back to being friends. I want my best friend back."
Kyle further contended that Amanda "stopped making an effort" to go out with him and his friends after they got engaged in 2018, prompting her to fire back, "Kyle! You stopped making an effort from the day that you cheated on me."
Unenthused about rehashing "2017 all over again," he cryptically shot back, "Amanda, I don't know how I'm supposed to, like, ever salvage our friendship or relationship if you're gonna hang this over my head the entirety of our marriage."
The swimwear designer, for her part, insisted that she was "not hanging this one instance" of infidelity over Kyle's head, but rather was explaining when her trust issues began. "Friendship is built on trust. I can't trust you," Amanda declared, later adding. "If I was able to trust you that you were coming home at reasonable times, these rumors wouldn’t affect me at all."
After Amanda doubled down that Kyle had not made any changes to his behavior to give her any reason to "want to make an effort" to go out with him more often, he replied, "Because I get nothing from you. I get zero. No friendship, no conversation, no nothing, no intimacy, no nothing. At a certain point, I have a breaking point. … You're just proving to everybody right now that we should not be together."
Why Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke were questioning their future together
Kyle also struck an ominous tone in a previously unseen confessional, explaining that this was the first time he and Amanda had ever been face-to-face "questioning our future." After pausing for a moment, he added, "This made me kind of question everything."
Back in their apartment, Amanda insisted that while she did want "to work out" their issues, because of "all the years of hurt and betrayal," it would just take some time to move past them.
"I don't want to give up on this, but I need you to do the one thing that I've been asking for," she told Kyle, referencing him curbing his late-night partying. "And if you want this to work too, you should be willing to do that."
In ending the conversation, Kyle promised he would be "committed to trying to give" Amanda what she needs, moving forward.
How Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooked worked through their problems
Fast-forward three months, and as the summer was coming to an end, Amanda and Kyle were in a much better place. "This has been one of our best summers together," she told him at the scary-themed finale party.
As far as how they got there, she explained that working on themselves individually through therapy "had a huge impact" and made their relationship "so much better and so much stronger."
Amanda added, "I feel like we're at a place where we were when we first met where we're just able to, like, pick on each other and be silly and have fun and not take things so personally."
As viewers saw with his consistent morning runs, Kyle pointed out that he'd challenged himself to "wake up and work out" — even if he was out late drinking the night before — to give himself "some self-control," knowing it would also improve their relationship. According to him, he'd actually "worked out every single day" that summer, too.
While addressing "what's next" in their marriage, Kyle mentioned starting a family again, to which Amanda replied, "We've been working on our relationship, and I feel like it's gonna make it easier for us to, like, want to go to the next step."
Don't miss what else Kyle and Amanda spilled about their marriage on the Summer House Season 9 reunion.
