Madisson Hausburg, 25, had a tough conversation with her dad on the Jan. 14 episode of Siesta Key when she introduced him to her new boyfriend, Ish, 46, who used to be a producer on season one of the reality show. Her father did not go easy on them, and admitted that he did not approve of the relationship. “I knew it was a conversation we had to get through in order to grow from it and get past it,” Madisson explained to HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “We had to have that initial conversation. I didn’t think it would be that intense. When you think about it, in theory, you know, okay, my dad’s not going to approve. But then, when you sit there and hear him say it to your face — ‘I don’t approve, I will never approve’ — that’s hard to hear.”
Another person who had a tough time learning about Madisson’s new romance was her ex, Brandon Gomes, who was blindsided with the news at Juliette Porter’s graduation party. “I probably should have told Brandon before,” Madisson admitted. “I didn’t mean to hurt the guy that badly. In retrospect, everything could have been easier [if I did], but you can say that about every situation.” However, she also wasn’t expecting Brandon to react so intensely, either. “I hadn’t talked to Brandon in so long and he didn’t reach out either,” Madisson explained. “I thought he had moved on, on some level. I expected him to be upset and shocked, like everyone was, but I didn’t expect him to be that upset.”
At the end of the Jan. 14 episode, viewers saw Ish leave to go work on a project out of the country, and Madisson learned that she might not see him for six months. She teased in our interview that this is something that will take a toll on her as the season progresses. “I do struggle with it being long distance, especially when there are so many things against us already and I didn’t have the support of all of my friends and family,” she said. “That made it a lot harder. So, there’s a lot of things against us, but you’ll see more of him this season. There’s a chance of him coming back!”
Madisson got together with Ish after she moved to Los Angeles to take acting classes in the fall of 2018. When she ended things with Brandon, she took it upon herself to pursue Ish, despite there 21 year age difference. “The age difference was obviously a big issue, more so for everyone else,” she revealed. “It crossed my mind, but I think when I first started seeing him, I didn’t expect it to get as serious as it did. Then it did start getting very serious, and it became, like…what if we do want a future together? The age difference will definitely catch up to us and take a toll. Is it worth it? That’s something we navigate through the season.”
We’re only two episodes into this season of Siesta Key, so viewers will get to see PLENTY of more from these two as the show continues. Siesta Key airs Tuesday nights at 8:00 p.m. on MTV.