Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke are sticking up for their Summer House co-star Paige DeSorbo amid the online chatter surrounding her current dating life.
The gossip chain started soon after DeSorbo announced her split from Southern Charm star Craig Conover, whom she had been dating for three years. Within a few short weeks, the Giggly Squad podcast host was seen cozying up to a mystery man (who has now been identified as Joe D’Amelio) at an Eagles game — and bloggers have since reported that the alleged couple spent New Year’s Eve together and recently vacationed in Miami.
In light of the rumors, Batula — who stopped by DECIDER’s studio to promote the upcoming ninth season of Summer House — urged these so-called social media sleuths to “leave the girl alone.”
“Let her just live. She has shared so much of her life. She shares everything on the show, on her podcast,” Batula said. “Let her just exist for five minutes. Just leave her alone.”
“She’s just a girl at the end of the day,” Batula added. “I couldn’t imagine being stalked like that and having people constantly just making things up or making assumptions or following me.”
Even Cooke, who was seen fighting with DeSorbo in the Summer House Season 9 trailer, chimed in to defend his co-star, noting that the “worst part” of it all is that some people believe she was “cheating” on Conover.
“Someone’s got to put those [rumors] to bed,” he said, while his wife added, “That’s not the type of person Paige is. Definitely not.”
DeSorbo and Conover ended their relationship shortly before the holidays, with the former confirming the sad news on the Dec. 30 episode of her Giggly Squad podcast. She promised that “no one did anything” that led to the end of their relationship, just that they wanted different things for their respective futures.
Despite his beef with Conover over his partnership with Loverboy competitor Spritz Society, Cooke reached out to both him and DeSorbo after hearing about their split.
“When I heard the news, I guess that I was shocked,” he said. “I reached out to Paige. I reached out to Craig. I just let him know, ‘Hey, sorry to hear it. I was rooting for you guys.’ I haven’t heard back. But I’m not on the top of his list, so that’s fine.”
Summer House premieres Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 9/8c on Bravo.
