While Lindsay Hubbard claimed ex-fiancé Carl Radke blindsided her when he called off their wedding, Summer House alum Ashley Wirkus thinks his message was crystal clear.
“I thought Carl actually handled himself very, very well,” Ashley, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly at Swirl x Z Supply Summer Collection Party on Saturday, June 22. “I thought he was super well-spoken. We only see glimpses and I thought he was trying really hard to make it work.”
She continued, “I know they were saying, ‘Oh, it was set up.’ I don’t think it was set up by him. I think he was trying to have an honest conversation and it didn’t go that well. … I don’t know much about the relationship but what I saw on TV, they did everyone a favor by not being together.”
Ashley was an OG cast member on Bravo’s Summer House during the first two seasons alongside both Carl, 39, and Lindsay, 37. While Ashley eventually left the show, both Carl and Lindsay remained staples in the Hamptons house.
Carl proposed to Lindsay during season 7 and they were planning their November 2023 wedding during season 8, which aired earlier this year. Carl ultimately called off their engagement in August 2023 and Lindsay claimed his decision was out of the blue. Carl, meanwhile, asserted that he did not blindside the former publicist given that they fought throughout Summer House season 8.
“I don’t know their relationship, obviously,” Ashley noted to Us. “I knew Lindsay well before the show. She was at my wedding [and] our friendship kind of ended. I don’t really know why, but it just did. I think maybe because we weren’t on the show anymore and we weren’t a part of that anymore.”
While Ashley hasn’t recently been in touch with Lindsay, she is still friendly with Carl.
“I have recently had a few interactions with Carl,” Ashley said at Saturday’s party at Swirl Boutique in Carlsbad, California. “I wish them all the best but I just don’t really keep up with them.”
According to Ashley, Carl and Lindsay did not make the “right match” in the long run.
“Carl sober is a very different Carl. I think [in] seasons 1 and 2, when I was on the show with him, he was struggling with his addiction,” Ashley recalled. “But I always knew deep down Carl is a great person and a great guy. I think he’s done a lot of work on himself and I think hopefully he’s learned a lot from all this and is in a better place. I think if they were the right match, it would have worked out. I think when you’re not the right match, it doesn’t work out, unfortunately.”
Carl, who has been sober since 2021, has since received an onslaught of backlash for the way he handled the breakup.
“People only see a small glimpse. You only know so little and you’re seeing so little,” Ashley reminded Us on Saturday. “You’re seeing an edited version of so much more and you need to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. I think that for everybody. You have to be so much softer because just know you’re getting such a small glimpse.”
With reporting by Mike Vulpo
