2024 was all about Brat summer — but Summer House star, entrepreneur, and influencer Amanda Batula has some predictions for the vibe of summer 2025. “Wait, someone said it’s ‘recession summer,’” Batula laughs.
We’re sitting on velvet couches at The Upgrade Lounge by Marshalls, a week-long installation that democratizes the airport lounge experience with a pop-up in the middle of JFK’s Terminal 4 in New York City. (Amenities include: a beauty bar with eye masks, refreshments, complimentary amenity kits, and charging stations, plus a curated selection of Batula’s favorite Marshalls products at The Upgrade Shop.) Neither of us is actually flying anywhere, so instead we’re just imagining summer vacation.
“Not to be like Lindsay [Hubbard, her Summer House costar] at her ‘Freedom Dinner,’ but I feel like it's the summer of freedom, of just, you know, letting everything go,” Batula says. “I feel like the world can be so dark, especially right now. Ignoring the noise is big for me.” She clarifies, “Not freedom like America, but in a more personal way.”
Batula has been candid about how she takes care of her mental health, and her experiences with depression and anxiety. As much as summer can be a balm for seasonal depression, it can also trigger other anxieties, like how we feel in swimsuits or the pressure for a “summer body.” (To be clear, that is a fake concept designed to sell you stuff you don’t need.)
The New Jersey native remembers summers at the Jersey Shore as a teenager and not really worrying about how she looked. She credits that to the women in her life who helped instill that confidence.
“Having a solid group of girlfriends was super imperative to how I grew up and how I viewed myself and my body,” she says of her high school friends, who are still her close friends today. “There was no judgment. We all look different from one another and no one ever made fun of each other for that, and that really helped shape me and also, like, be the friend that I'm able to be to women today and you know give compliments and not judge. There's no jealousy. Everyone's going through something. Even if they're not presenting it on the outside.”
It’s a lesson Batula has carried into her adult life, as she’s become famous and dealt with all that entails. “Being on TV, there's a lot of criticism on women's bodies in both directions,” she says. “You're too big or you're too thin, you're fake or like, ‘she's definitely had surgery.’ I just try to protect my peace and live in my own little world. It's hard to ignore your own voice sometimes in your head, let alone everyone else's opinions. For anyone struggling, stay away from the mirror, because sometimes you feel really good and then you see yourself and it changes your opinion. Enjoy living in the moment.”
While she lives in the moment, she can’t help thinking about the future, too. Summer House season 9 will air its finale on Bravo this week, and she knows fans have been thinking about the current cast and the future of the show. Will the next iterations of Summer House feature cast changeover to bring in younger stars?
“I mean granted, I have no say in any of this,” she says, “but if I were on the inside, I think the show could go one of two ways. It could either follow the current cast as we get older, or you know, we could sort of break off and it can go back to being young and partying and introducing more of those fun Gen Z kids.
“I can't keep up with them. I can't keep up with half the stuff they're saying. My husband [Kyle Cooke] definitely can’t, but you know, it's fun having younger people in the house too. I feel like it keeps me young and in the know, but I think that there's a world where people need to, like, graduate out. We need the freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, [class], and we need some more freshmen for sure.” Like Degrassi, I say, and she nods. “Exactly. The show stays the same but the people change.”
The Upgrade Lounge by Marshalls will be open to the public at JFK Airport Terminal 4 from May 21 to May 20, 2025. The lounge will be open from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. and 5 p.m. – 9 p.m., with the seating area open 24/7.
