Amy Johnson's Career in Yachting Didn't End with Below Deck

Amy Johnson has hung up her epaulets. The Below Deck alum, who previously served as a stew in Seasons 2 and 3 of the series, confirmed that she has retired from yachting during an exclusive interview with Bravo Insider in January.

However, Amy had one last hurrah in yachting — and it actually wasn't too long ago. "My last yacht charter was in February last year. It was really recent," Amy shared. "It’s just freelance, so when you work freelance, they sit down and plan out — if you’re lucky like [with] these guests — three months ahead of time. They did Halloween in the Keys, and these certain trips you can say, yes or no, if it works for you."

But as her relationship with then-boyfriend Ellis Lenthall, whom she married in October 2020, became more serious, Amy said that she realized it was time to walk away from yachting for good. "They were lovely new owners, and I really enjoyed working for them," Amy shared. "But moving into the next chapter in my life and wanting to put roots down with Ellis, my last trip was February."

Now that Amy has settled down in North Carolina with Ellis, who works as an outside sales account executive for an electrical distributor and engineering company, she doesn't see herself working on yachts again in the future. "I couldn’t be away from him, like, traveling, how you do on yachts. But I’m like, if I could stuff him in a bilge or put him in my suitcase or take him along, or if he didn’t have a full-time job and could come be a bartender, I definitely would," Amy said. "But he’s got a grown-up, real-time job, so I don’t foresee that in my future unless situations were really to change."

Amy said that she has been in a bit of a "transition" period in her career with wedding planning taking up most of her time before she and Ellis tied the knot last fall. She has also been buying vintage items and flipping them to resell online.

Amy was working on something pretty major prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. "I had been working to create a robe line to come out. And that’s all been put on pause because of COVID, but hopefully that can start up," she shared. "I live about 90 percent of my life in a robe, and I love a fabulous robe that can go from, like, the house, you put a bra on, and you go out and people don’t know if it’s a wrap dress or like a kaftan. I love that, and I’ve been working on that and we’ll see how that plays out with all this stuff."

Of course, Amy also made her triumphant return to TV this year, appearing on Below Deck Galley Talk. You can catch Amy dishing on all things Below Deck Season 8, along with her brother, Kelley Johnson, Fridays at 8/7c on Bravo.

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