Despite no longer working together, there's no love lost between longtime friends Kyle Cooke and Carl Radke.
After Carl recently revealed he's no longer working for his Summer House co-star's canned alcohol business Loverboy, Kyle is speaking out about their decision to part ways professionally.
"First and foremost, my friendship with Carl has always been the No. 1 priority, and it's not easy working with your with your best friend," the Bravo star exclusively told E! News. "Startups are challenging, and so I always tried to walk that fine line with our friendship and not try to go too hard on him. I think that the needs of a startup change and evolve over time and I think you'll see some of that."
Since starting the company several years ago, Kyle explained that "Carl's role evolved from a sales role to more of a support role where he's in the market, he's doing these events and people are drinking Loverboy."
However, Carl quit drinking during that time period because of addiction issues. "If that's not a good fit for him anymore now that he's living a completely sober lifestyle," Kyle continued, "I'm just glad that he stuck around as long as he did."
Summer House fans will see their working dynamic cause drama in their friendship on the show's seventh season, as they both reveal grievances with each other in the dramatic trailer.
"I think that he probably held it back from me for quite some time," Kyle admitted. "It's not going to be easy watching back. I'm sure you'll see my frustrations and you'll see his frustrations, but I have to remind everybody that that's totally normal for a startup, let alone a startup with all these interpersonal relationships."
"I'm supportive of his decision," the 40-year-old added. "I think we've really built something special and I think he thinks that too. We're proud of what we built."
With Carl's departure, Kyle acknowledged he'll be seeing a lot less of his co-star these days.
"We just got dinner together, we had a great talk," he revealed. "I want what's best for him and if it's working for an alcohol brand is no longer what's best for him, than I have to respect that."
See the drama play out when Summer House returns tonight, Feb. 13, at 9 p.m. on Bravo.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family)