There are lots of different reasons people tune in to reality shows — there’s messiness, fights, drama and romance.

Over nine seasons, Amanda Batula has contributed each of those elements to “Summer House,” the Bravo reality show set in the Hamptons, while the show’s other women took on dominant story lines. But this season, Batula, 33, has become a fan favorite for breaking out of the norms that “girlfriend” reality stars often get stuck in: starting a family, quitting a job and moving to the suburbs with their attention-hogging male leads.

Batula had been very much ready to follow that plan. (She first appeared on the show as a late-night hookup for Kyle Cooke, now her husband.) But this season and the last saw her priorities shift. She started her own business ventures, and prioritized her friendships and mental health.

“When I was younger, I thought I’d be married at 24” and “have kids by 30,” Batula said. “I don’t have to follow this timeline that I set.”

Last month, Batula discussed in an interview what it’s been like to break out on the show and how she figured out what actually makes her happy.

Batula made her reality television debut in 2017 during the first season of “Summer House,” not as a cast member but as a late-night invitee of Cooke, who had recently broken up with her and was filming for the show.

Among viewers and fans, Batula was often identified as “Kyle’s girlfriend” and then, after they got married in September 2021, “Kyle’s wife.” When Cooke launched Loverboy, a canned cocktail line, Batula helped with marketing and design and, by Season 3, had quit her full-time job as a graphic designer for a beauty brand to work with her husband.

“I am a quieter, more reserved person so I was OK letting him sort of take the reins,” she said. “But then it got to the point where I was tired of not having my own identity.”

In Season 8 of the show, which premiered last spring, Batula began to share that she was growing frustrated with always being tied to Cooke.

“I just wanted to have more of my own life and for people to see me as the person that all my friends and my family see me,” she added.

One scene showed Batula out shopping with her castmates Paige DeSorbo and Ciara Miller, who asked her, “Do you think you have an identity outside of Kyle and Loverboy? Because I don’t.” Miller added that Batula was more creative than the work she was doing.

“I wish you saw yourself the way I picture you in my head,” DeSorbo chimed in.

Batula said the conversation gave her the push she needed: “Those girls, really, they don’t hold back and tell me how it is, and I need that.”

Before that season, Batula said she had been struggling with her mental health. In 2023, when she did not want to go home to New Jersey to celebrate Thanksgiving with family, she took a telehealth questionnaire that led to a diagnosis of “severe depression and mild anxiety.” She was prescribed medication and then met with a psychiatrist to make a treatment plan.

“Once I went on my antidepressants, it really opened my eyes to being like, ‘OK, I want to focus on my happiness before I do what I think I’m supposed to do and settle down,’” she said. Batula has continued to post messages about mental health to her social media platforms, where she reaches nearly 875,000 people.

“I’ll wear it on my forehead — I think it should be discussed because it’s not something people should be ashamed of,” she said.

Since then, Batula’s plans and “Summer House” story line have shifted. This week’s episode showed her discussing the design process for her swimwear line with South Moon Under swim. She’s also a creative director for an eyewear brand.

“I have opportunities now, things that I want to do now, things that I’m passionate about now,” she said. “And now is the time — strike while the iron is hot.”

She isn’t the only woman of “Summer House” to have a 30-something breakthrough.

Lindsay Hubbard, 38, gave birth to her first child in December but refused to rush to move in with her boyfriend, the child’s father. Paige DeSorbo just ended a three-year relationship with a fellow Bravo-lebrity (Craig Conover from “Southern Charm”) and told listeners on “Giggly Squad,” her podcast, “You can be 32 and decide to change the entire course of your life — you don’t have to get married and have a baby because you think you have to. Just because you’re in your 30s does not mean you’re running out of time.”

Batula noted that the women cast on the show are supporting each other through life’s upheavals — a reality TV narrative that seems truly unconventional. “I find that we’re such good inspiration to all women, each of us on our own path,” she said. “But we’re all kind of putting ourselves first. I’m very lucky to be surrounded by strong women like that.”