The 3 Really Real Reasons Paige DeSorbo Left ‘Summer House’

“I want to do Giggly Squad until I’m 102.” — Paige DeSorbo

In a new cover story for Byrdie, Paige DeSorbo finally explained why she walked away from Summer House. Speaking alongside Hannah Berner, she was unusually direct about the pressures of reality TV, her fear of leaving Bravo, and her need to reclaim her own voice. Her words confirm what many fans already suspected watching her final season play out.

Paige couldn’t show up anymore.

Here is what she said: “I just had this overwhelming sense that I couldn’t go back. I know I would’ve been doing a disservice to the show. They expect a certain level of showing up, and I couldn’t give them that.”

Now she finally said this explicitly, but it so clear watching last season that she was so bored of being on the show. Her always acting tired and always wanting to be in bed felt less like a funny joke and more like a reality of her giving up, so this feels like something we all know, but now have some level of confirmation.

She feared her career would be nothing without Bravo behind her.

She admitted, “I definitely had to get over the feeling that my career would be over. There’s an element of thinking you need that show and network, and Hannah was reminding me they’re not in charge of where you are in your career.“

That’s a controversial point. Many Summer House stars likely couldn’t survive without Bravo backing them. Paige, however, built a brand that transcended the show. That independence gives her more freedom than others in the cast, and it almost certainly fuels envy among them.

She wanted to own her brand and story.

Connected to having built her own brand outside of Bravo, she also says she can’t deal with the editors controlling her story anymore. She says: “I think we say more on the pod because we know how it’s going to be put out. Whereas when you’re on TV, you can say something personal, but you don’t know how it’s going to be framed and in what context.”

This is the real turning point. Her podcast Giggly Squad gives her full authorship of her story, something she never had on Bravo.