Ciara Miller Said Amanda Batula Always Has to Be the ‘Damsel in Distress’
Ciara Miller and Amanda Batula’s once-close friendship fell apart after Batula revealed her relationship with West Wilson. Wilson was Miller’s ex, leading to shock amongst the Summer House fans and cast when he revealed he was with Batula. Miller has since reflected on her friendship with Batula, noting that she thinks her former friend always positions herself as a victim.
Ciara Miller said Amanda Batula needs to be a damsel in distress
As Batula considered leaving her marriage to Kyle Cooke, Miller supported her. After Miller discussed her relationship with Wilson, Batula said she would drop him as a friend at any point if Miller asked. Despite this, she began a romantic relationship with him.
“Everyone’s always there for [Amanda]. She never has to be there for anyone,” Miller told Harper’s Bazaar. “She is always the damsel in distress, always the victim.”
Miller said Batula never reciprocated the support she gave her in their years of friendship.
“In the six years, I don’t think she’s really ever had to be there for me,” she said. “And not that a friendship is based on reciprocity, but it’s now really clear that there was no type of reciprocity on her side. I tried to hang out outside of filming, check on her, speak life into her.”
Ciara Miller said Amanda Batula was never a good friend to her
Batula described Miller as “one of the kindest, most loving, loyal friends I’ve ever had.” Miller agrees with this, but she doesn’t think that Batula ever reciprocated.
“I was always a friend to her, and she was never a friend to me,” she said.
She noted that Batula had a multitude of excuses about her relationship with Wilson.
“She’s ‘the victim.’ She ‘just didn’t know,’ she’s ‘so oblivious,’ she ‘wants love,’ is she supposed to be alone forever? I’m not going to go back and rehash the past, but everything now moving forward is on the cutting-room floor,” she said. “Silence is an option. But I know things. I see things. I’m done protecting people by not saying anything. It’s really like a don’t-f***-with-me era. If you want it, you can get it. Don’t f*** with me.”
She shared what it was like to form a friendship with Mia Calabrese
Miller was the first Black cast member on Summer House. While she formed friendships with her cast mates, she said she was able to build a different kind of bond with fellow Black cast mates Mia Calabrese and KJ Dillard.
“When it’s just me, it’s easier to write off what you’re feeling,” she says. “But when someone comes in who’s felt the same exact things, then you know these aren’t abstract thoughts. These are real. I feel that Black women don’t really get the opportunity in the public eye to be loved and to love freely without either harassment or judgment to the nth degree.”
