Credit: Instagram
Carl Radke has an official opening date for his non-alcoholic bar, Soft Bar, and it’s just weeks away.
During a podcast appearance earlier this week, Carl, 40, opened up about his sobriety, the support he’s received from his Summer House castmates, and where he stands with Lindsay Hubbard, 38, as he looked back on their difficult breakup and spoke of the “beautiful space” in which his latest endeavor will be housed.
“August 27 is gonna be a grand opening to friends and family, and then September 5 to the public,” Carl confirmed on SiriusXM’s The Julia Cunningham Show. “I got really lucky. We found a really beautiful space.”
According to Carl, he secured the location in January and began building in March to make it his own.
“What we’re doing is the coffee and the non-alc culture, but extending that into the evening. Every coffee shop in this town, for the most part, closes at five or six o’clock, but you have a space that sits there that’s beautiful and cool,” he explained. “[It’s] dog friendly. It’s gonna be kid-friendly at certain hours.”
Although many have questioned how Carl is able to maintain his sobriety in the Hamptons, while surrounded by cast members who drink, he admitted that if he were still in the throes of his addiction, he wouldn’t be in the house.
“I would be literally in the bushes, and that’s how dark and deep my drinking and usage was where I’d go off the radar. I’d disappear. I wouldn’t answer calls. I’d isolate,” he shared. “So not drinking and being honest about my struggle actually allowed me to show up in the house, and it was a crash course in going back into places that I typically would drink or party.”
Making his fight to stay clean even easier were his castmates.
“[Kyle Cooke] and [Amanda Batula], Lindsay … [Paige DeSorbo], [Ciara Miller] … they knew … how dark my drinking, my cocaine use was, so I think if anything, from at least what I could tell, was [that] they were just happy that I was there, but in a better way,” he noted. “Because when I was drinking a lot and using Adderall and using cocaine, I was a nightmare to be around. You know, I was a rollercoaster. You didn’t know what you were gonna get. Sure, I was fun until it wasn’t, but there was definitely a lot. I think my friends were like, ‘Thank god. He’s accepting and being honest about what he struggles with.'”
“I feel very lucky that, you know, my friends welcomed me back. Bravo’s been incredibly welcoming to my ups and downs, and I mean, most people would be like, ‘Why are you still doing it?’ I’m like, ‘Honestly, ’cause I love being a part of this group of friends,'” he continued. “[And] I hope one person, if they can watch and feel maybe more comfortable telling their spouse or their friend or their family member they struggle, or them helping a family member who struggles, that’s why I keep coming back every day.”
As for his dynamic with Lindsay, Carl said he’s never one to close the door fully on a friendship.
“There’s so much history between us. There’s so much love, or at least from my side, just with, we’ve had a lot of fun together and the experiences we’ve had over the last 10 years filming a TV show, the car rides back and forth, the small little jokes, the little inside moments, those are always gonna bond and tether us,” he explained. “[And] I think as she continues to move on and date other people and all that, I think there is an opportunity to be friendlier. It’s been cordial.”
As Summer House fans well know, Lindsay was pregnant during season nine and welcomed her first child, daughter Gemma, with now-ex-boyfriend Turner Kufe after filming wrapped.
“I’m just promoting positivity with her. ‘How’s Gemma doing? How’s everything,’ and just keep it moving and keep it positive,” he reasoned. “But we went through a pretty difficult situation regardless of being on TV or not, but then that all being amplified, which I know we signed up for many years ago, and I’m grateful for being able to be a part of this, but reliving it all was one of the harder things I didn’t anticipate.”
“It was a lot,” he added.
Summer House season 10 is currently in production.
