Ever since Summer House stars Amanda Batula and West Wilson confirmed their secret romance earlier this year, their exes Kyle Cooke and Ciara Miller have been picking up the pieces and grappling with feelings of betrayal and confusion.
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Kyle Cookes Friend Urges Warning Signs on Amanda
Ever since Summer House stars Amanda Batula and West Wilson confirmed their secret romance earlier this year, their exes Kyle Cooke and Ciara Miller have been p...
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Now a close friend of Cooke is opening up about the peculiar signs his pal Cook noticed before Batula and Wilson's relationship was revealed - and how the star is reassessing 'red flags' he once overlooked.
Investor Kenny Martin is longtime friends with Cooke and also stars with him on In The City, the new Bravo series following the Summer House cast and their close friends in New York.
Earlier this year, Batula and Wilson landed in a scandal of epic proportions when they unveiled their romance. .
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Martin hopes the suspicions Cooke harbored will be addressed during tonight's Summer House reunion - and claimed chatter had been brewing since the summer.
'I think when it comes to timeline,' he told The Daily Mail in an exclusive interview on Monday, 'This was something that people were talking about coming out of the summer, frankly.
'I think that the reunion tomorrow, I'm really excited to see, just because, I think there were also some tea leaves for Kyle looking back. Maybe not in the moment, he kind of wasn't all over it, but looking back, I think there are things for Kyle that we've discussed where he's like, "Mmm… this was a red flag," or, "This makes a lot more sense now," that I'm hoping comes out in this reunion.'
A friend of Kyle Cooke has revealed how Amanda Batula and West Wilson's shock romance left him reassessing 'red flags' he overlooked before the scandal
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Cooke and Batula announced their separation after four years of marriage earlier this year
In The City star Kenny Martin has revealed how Cooke noticed peculiar signs about Batula and Wilson that he hopes come to light during the reunion
The reunion has not yet aired but has already been plagued with the type of drama to come from a Bravo show, with audio leaked from the taping revealing the cast confronting Batula and Wilson over the relationship.
It's been a few months since Cooke learned his friend and castmate Wilson had begun dating his ex-wife and understandably the topic still stings.
Martin is among the new cast members of Bravo's latest show following the 'grown up' lives of the Summer House stars and their friends
Four years after tying the knot, Batula and Cooke's marriage crumbled on camera
The secret romance ended Batula's close friendship with Ciara Miller, who dated West Wilson on-off
'But it's just his personality, it's who he is, he loves to entertain, he loves to DJ, he's passionate about it,' he said. 'As he's going through it, he's finding comfort in doing the things he loves, hanging out with his friends, and just being… who he really is.'
'There will be the right person that appreciates Kyle for Kyle,' Martin added.
The love Cooke has for Batula was also clear to Martin during their show's premiere party last week.
'I think Kyle has been wildly respectful to her. I am impressed with how he is showing up for her throughout this process.
'Even seeing them at the premiere party last Monday, he was there and supportive for her, and you can tell Kyle really loves her, and he's made his mistakes throughout the relationship, that's an obvious, but as this is unfolding, he is very much there for her and concerned about her, and it just shows how much love was really between the two of them.'
In The City debuted last week and captured several Summer House cast members and their pals now living a 'grown up' life in New York, miles away from the youthful abandon of their partying era in the Hamptons.
Despite the heartbreak, Martin says Cooke has been 'very respectful' to Batula
Martin said Cooke, pictured May 7, was unable to resist entertaining the crowd during his heartbreak, 'It's who he is'
Already Martin has made an impression after he struck back at Lindsay Hubbard, who confronted him about his relationship with Bachelor alum Whitney Fransway.
Fransway, who appeared on Nick Viall's season of The Bachelor, moved across the country to live with Martin in the Big Apple - a move Hubbard was critical of as the relocation had occurred without 'a ring.'
'I'm getting "I hate men" vibes,' Martin told Hubbard of her criticism.
'I'm just allergic to annoying men,' she replied.
It was a response that came out of a desire to defend their relationship, with Martin feeling 'misguided' criticism being levelled at him 'right out of the gates.'
'First things first, think long and hard before you go toe-to-toe with a 10-year, OG, reality personality,' he said.
'Listen, this is Lindsay's show, and I'm happy to be a part of it, but when it comes to defending my relationship and my girlfriend, and I didn't know Lindsay coming into this show.
'And so, right out of the gates, it was a lot of criticism that felt a little misguided, and so I'm gonna defend my relationship, and I'm gonna defend Whitney, and defend where we are, and how we've approached this relationship.
'And so it made for some interesting dynamics that I think will continue to play out. We both have very strong personalities.'
Martin is dating Bachelor alum Whitney Fransway, who appeared on Nick Viall's season of The Bachelor
The show explores the 'grown up' lives of the Summer House stars navigating adulthood away from the youthful abandon of the Hamptons
But Fransway had already been considering a move to New York by the time they met, Martin said.
The couple were dating for a year before Fransway relocated from Los Angeles to move in with him and met when she was first looking for apartments in New York.
But Fransway is no stranger to television; many may already recognize her from season 21 of The Bachelor and season six of Bachelor In Paradise.
While she didn't find love with Nick Viall, she did eventually end up with Martin.
The couple started dating as Martin grieved the loss of his mother, and Fransway was a 'supportive' and 'patient' presence for him during the heartbreak.
'When I met Whitney, I didn't know that she had been on The Bachelor, and when we talked about it, the first question I asked her, I was like, "Did you make it to the honeymoon suites?"' he said, laughing.
'"If you did, maybe we gotta talk about it a little bit more." But no, that was a cool experience for her, but yeah, we met, I guess a little over a year and change ago now. It had been around a year when we were filming the show.
Martin says his relationship with Fransway comes under scrutiny this season, and they have had to 'defend' it multiple times
'And we met at a tricky time, and I was going through a personal loss in my family, and we were dating long distance, and so we really kind of took it easy for a while as I was working through losing my mom.
'But she was just always so patient and supportive of that process,' he said. 'I actually met her, she was in the city looking at apartments and was thinking about moving to the city,' he said.
Yet Martin says their relationship comes under scrutiny this season, with the first episode showing him expressing some reservations about her being his one and only.
Yet being the target of scrutiny made their relationship stronger.
'We've gotten so much closer since we started filming, I think partially because through the season... I had to defend our relationship and we had to defend our relationship, and it makes you look in at the relationship and say, "Is this something worth defending?... How do we really feel about this relationship?"
Despite the reservations he expressed in the episode, Martin says they're better than ever.
'We're as close now as we've ever been. I love that girl, and I'm excited to see and for others to see where we are and where the relationship's going.'
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