Austen Kroll and Lindsay Hubbard have turned a corner in their relationship after years of distance.
“I think that we’re going to kind of begin this new sort of friendship, where it’s boundaries — and the keyword, though, is friendship,” the Southern Charm star, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly at BravoCon on Friday, November 3. “And that’s what I want to keep it to. And I’m sure that with everything that she has going on, she feels the same way.”
After years of being close off screen, Lindsay, 37, and Austen both appeared on Winter House season 1 in 2021. When they got to Vermont to film the Summer House spinoff, Lindsay was open to seeing whether a romance was in the cards. Austen, however, had his sights set solely on Ciara Miller, which he reiterated during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. An upset Lindsay ultimately decided to press pause on their bond, blocking him from her social media accounts.
“I can’t be [OK] with keeping that kind of person in my life. Like, I spend so much time caring and nurturing for my friendships and being the best friend I can be to everyone around me,” Lindsay said during a November 2021 episode of the “Reality Life with Kate Casey” podcast. “If it’s not going to be reciprocated [after] almost four years of friendship and if it’s still not there, then I don’t need to train a 34-year-old man how to be a good friend to me.”
They each moved on with their lives after Winter House — and found new partners. Lindsay got engaged to Carl Radke in August 2022, while Austen sparked a romance with Olivia Flowers. (Both couples have since split, with Carl, 38, breaking up with Lindsay three months before their planned November wedding.)
Now that both Lindsay and Austen are single, they reopened the door to their friendship when they recently reunited in New York City.
“We haven’t spoken and had a chance to talk in so long,” Austen told Us on Friday. “And part of it is because … that’s growth. And she found Carl and she was going down that [path] and I needed to go down my own path, which it just made [sense] for us to not talk there for a while.”
Austen further revealed that Lindsay initiated their Big Apple meeting. “Then she reached out and asked if I was coming to New York,” he recalled. “So it was nice to meet up with her. It was nice to talk.”
Lindsay and Carl, meanwhile, reunited on stage during the Summer House panel on Friday after she exclusively told Us she was “completely blindsided” by their breakup.
“We don’t really speak unless he has to come to the apartment to get some stuff,” Lindsay revealed of their post-split dynamic. “I’m really nervous, I’m not going to lie. I’m shaking.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
