Why Paige DeSorbo Had an “Overwhelming Sense” That She Couldn’t Return to ‘Summer House’

For the better part of a decade, fans have tuned in to see Paige DeSorbo and her Summer House co-stars drive out to the Hamptons on summer weekends to party, drink, fight, and hook up—your classic reality TV drama. But now the Bravo star is revealing why she made the decision to leave Summer House after seven seasons on the show.

In a recent interview with Byrdie, Paige revealed that she simply had an “overwhelming sense” that her time on the show had come to an end. “I know I would’ve been doing a disservice to [the show],” she explained. “They accept a certain level of showing up, and I couldn’t give them that.”

If you recall, the most recent season of Summer House for Paige revolved around the end of her relationship with Southern Charm’s Craig Conover—and according to her, that storyline was a difficult one to share so publicly.

“Being on reality TV, there’s a level—this is a harsh word—of, like, brainwashing,” she explained. “That’s not real life. You’re not stopping people on the street and being like, ‘I just had a thought that I hate my boyfriend.’”

For Paige, the hardest part of leaving the show was getting over the fear that her “career would be over.” As she explained, “There’s an element of thinking you need that show and network, and Hannah [Berner] was reminding me they’re not in charge of where you are in your career. I am assimilating back into society. I’m like, what do people do on a Saturday night in the summer?”

Paige first announced back in June that season 9 of Summer House was her last. “Like all good things (and some bad decisions), it’s time for this chapter to close,” she wrote in part in an Instagram post announcing her decision, adding, “You haven’t seen the last of me, I promise.”

Paige DeSorbo via Instagram

She then opened up more about her decision a month later during an interview with Larry Crespo’s Bravo by Gays podcast.

“When it came time to start thinking about the summer, I really just had a moment where I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I can’t go film a TV show,’” Paige said. “This past spring, I was like, ‘I really need time off.’ I don’t physically think I could film Summer House.”

The decision to leave Summer House did not come lightly and was made after “months and months of thinking,” Paige said, though she did have a feeling that season 9 would be her last when she finished filming in 2024.

“I definitely felt different leaving last summer. There was something where I had this gut feeling where I was just like, ‘This is probably the last time I’ll ever leave this house,’” she recounted.

Instead of spending the summer filming, Paige has spent the last few months promoting her sleepwear line Daphne, while co-hosting her podcast Giggly Squad and balancing other work commitments. And it sounds like she doesn’t regret opting out of partying with the Summer House crew.

“I wouldn’t have been able to come this summer and be truly authentic,” she told Bravo by Gays. “I’ve worked so much this year. I don’t want to go out on a Friday and Saturday night. It’s not my vibe anymore.”

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