She originally rose to prominence as a soap actress, before joining Selling Sunset as a reality star-come-real estate agent.
And now, Chrishell Stause is experiencing the best of both worlds, as she will be making an imminent debut on Aussie soap Neighbours and returning for the eighth series of Selling Sunset. It’s been five years since the 43-year-old joined the smash hit property series as an original cast member, with fans witnessing significant personal and professional moments play out on the show.
After her divorce from This Is Us actor Justin Hartley was finalised in 2021, she started dating her Selling Sunset co-star and boss Jason Oppenheim, before getting her happily ever after with her now spouse, Australian drummer G-Flip. Here, Chrishell offers her refreshingly frank opinions on a whole host of topics, including her imposter syndrome in the LGBTQ+ community, the success of Selling Sunset, and finding fame as the world came to a halt in 2020…
How did you break into acting?
I always watched the soaps, wanting so badly to be one of the glamorous women in them. It wasn’t even like I wanted to be an actress – I wanted to be on soaps. I went to LA and waited tables for about a year, then got the audition [for All My Children in 2005] that I thought I was going to bomb, but the universe aligned for me that day. I was very determined and basically manifested being a soap actress. It got me out of a life that was pretty hard, and I think it was meant to be because I’m still doing some acting.
Did you have to audition for Selling Sunset?
For me, it was a little different. The show approached me and I went in and met with Adam DiVello [the producer]. I thought I was going in to audition, but I didn’t really know exactly what it was. I was told it was a real estate show and not long into the meeting, I realised , OK, they’re pitching me the show. Before that, I’d met Jason and Brett [Oppenheim] at an event and we exchanged cards. They were like, ‘Oh, you’re in real estate’ but I didn’t remember this. They’d given Adam a list of people to look into for the show.
What expectations did you have about Selling Sunset?
I don’t think anybody could have known what it was going to become. Every show is like that – it’s a lot of work and preparation, meets luck and timing. We had all of those things, just at the right moment. The show became a huge hit during lockdown. Nothing felt different, except that I was getting thousands of DMs every single day. COVID-19 was hard for everyone. But I had lost my dad, I filed for a divorce, and then the next year, I lost my mum. All of a sudden, in the middle of a lockdown where everybody feels disconnected, fans pulled me out of my hole.
Do you watch yourself back on the show?
We kind of have to, because we don’t know how [producers] are going to edit what we say, and there have been some times where I didn’t say things in the way they were edited.
What advice would you give your younger self?
If I gave myself advice, I’d probably get myself fired. I think I would just say trust your gut. There was a lot of questioning myself, there was a lot of thinking I wasn’t enough. Sometimes by the time you get somewhere, you wish you would have been nicer to yourself along the journey. And this is something I think is important for anyone joining any business, or if you’re making a big transition – have your support group.
How would you describe your coming out journey?
I’d never really thought about my sexuality, as it was never really a question to me in my mind. I very much understand that is definitely not everyone’s journey, it just happened. I think that’s why, at first, I had a little bit of impostor syndrome – I didn’t live that life where I had this fear or anything like that. It wasn’t so much that I had any fear about embracing who I was, because I fell in love with someone. I think initially it was a fear because in the public eye, people judge you, no matter what. Once I let that go, I got to a place where I was just like, ‘I don’t care. I’m happy’.
Finally, what have we got in store for season eight?
It will be a really great season. There’s a lot coming!
