Fans of Summer House know that Lindsay Hubbard really clocks in. For 10 seasons, she has shared the highs and lows of her relationships, weathered friendship breakups and makeups, and moved storylines along in ways that have benefitted the show as a whole. (And viewers are thankful!)
Through it all, Hubbard has never seemed to lack confidence, and her boldness is now on full display in the spinoff series, In the City, which follows a group of friends in New York navigating marriages, parenthood, and of course, all the drama that comes with being in a friend group on reality TV. But where does that unwavering confidence come from? According to Hubbard, it dates back to her teenage years, when she landed her first job at Winn-Dixie.
"At 14 years old, my dad was like, 'Hey, Linds, do you want a car when you're 16?' I'm like, "Yeah, totally. I totally want a car.' He's like, 'Cool. How are you gonna pay for it?' And I was like, 'Guess I'll go get a job.' And literally the next day, I went to Winn-Dixie, which is a grocery store in the south ... and I started as a grocery bag girl."
From there, Hubbard went on to work at Outback Steakhouse and in bars and clubs before launching her career in public relations. She was running her own PR company when she began filming Summer House in 2016.
"I've always moved through life very confidently, because of that," the 39-year-old says of her work ethic. "And when you have confidence as a human, not even because of looks or intelligence, but because everything that I have is earned, that gives me the power that you can never take away."
Protecting that part of herself has become especially important in light of two recent developments: the Summer House scandal that rocked the Bravo fandom earlier this year and the latest chapter of Hubbard's love life.
As shown on the Summer House reunion, Hubbard was baffled by Amanda Batula and West Wilson’s decision to begin seeing each other behind their castmates’ backs. In her view, they failed to consider the bigger picture and risked the future of the show in the process. Ultimately, neither Batula nor Wilson will return for Season 11.
"I was like, hello, are you guys okay? Like, have you thought about how this this doesn't just impact the four of you? It impacts so many people. Everyone on these couches, two different TV shows, our executives, our editors ... Like, what are you doing? You're sitting here saying like you weighed out all the options, but did you? Because it doesn't seem like you did."
Hubbard explains why this cut so deep for her. "There's one thing that like will fuck me up—it's bigger than heartbreak for me—if you come for my money ... If you threaten the things that I've worked hard for, that's the worst thing that you can ever do to me."
With that in mind, Hubbard is determined not to let a romantic partner jeopardize her career either, especially after realizing she and her daughter’s father (who has never appeared on the show) were not on the same page.
"He's a very private person. I'm a very public person," Hubbard says. "I don't think he fully understood the level of public that I am. It came down to, like, decisions were gonna have to be made, right? I will never put myself in that position again. So, as I'm now dating, I'm very clear that I will always choose my career over the guy, because I don't want to have to choose. Either you get on board with my lifestyle, because I can't put the toothpaste back in the tube."
For more from Hubbard—including the moment she knew she and Batula had "very different" values—check out this week's installment of "Nice Talk." The episode is available everywhere you listen to podcasts.