Summer House’s Amanda Batula was looking for a “younger man” prior to confirming her romance with West Wilson.
In a video interview with Marie Claire magazine, published by the outlet across its social media accounts on March 3, Amanda, 34, detailed exactly what she was searching for. “I am manifesting a man, I am manifesting myself a younger man, something for fun, just, you know, just someone to heal me,” she said with a laugh at the time.
Although Amanda and her costar, 28, were yet to confirm their romance, fans of the Bravo reality TV series were beginning to speculate about their connection online at the time.
The interview also saw Amanda revealing how “unstoppable” she felt just two months after announcing her split from estranged husband Kyle Cooke following four years of marriage. “Honestly, I feel like I’m on cloud nine,” she told the outlet. “The past two weeks, I’ve never been happier.”
Amanda and West confirmed their romance via a joint Instagram post on Tuesday, March 31. “We’ve seen the growing online speculation, so while this is still very new, we wanted to provide some clarity,” the pair’s statement read. “It was never our intention to purposely hide anything. Given the complicated relationship dynamics involved and the scrutiny that comes with being on a reality show, we needed a little space to process things privately before speaking on it.”
The statement continued, “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. Our connection grew out of a genuine, longstanding friendship, which made it especially important for us to approach this with care.”
Amanda’s Marie Claire interview also discussed how she didn’t want anything more than “just a boyfriend,” with the reality TV star explaining she wasn’t after anybody “who’s looking for anything serious.” Instead, she spoke about a younger person to “have fun” with after she’d “always dated older.” (Kyle, 43, is approximately nine years older than her.)
Amanda ultimately declared, “For now, while I heal, I just want to flirt and make out.”
Amanda’s relationship with West shocked fans due to her close friendship with West’s ex Ciara Miller. Additionally, West and Kyle had forged a friendship.
Ciara, 30, is yet to address the romance revelation but did seemingly throw shade at the new couple while interviewing the cast of Your Friends & Neighbors in New York City for the show’s season 2 premiere on Monday, March 30.
Although it was one night prior to Amanda and West’s Instagram announcement, Ciara told Jon Hamm, one of the Apple TV drama’s stars, that she had “been better” when he asked how she was.
