“Imagine I went through all of that and then people weren’t entertained? That would suck!” laughs Chrishell Stause. On the ninth season of Selling Sunset, the Emmy-nominated actress and realtor is at the centre of chaos once more: a jaw-dropping dinner clash with Nicole Young, bewildering tension with new agent Sandra Vergara, and a friendship-ending fallout with Emma Hernan over her fruit-and-vegetable-defying boyfriend’s, erm… antique political views.
This nastiness, further amplified during the reunion, was thankfully offset by Chrishell, who injected some much-needed rainbow energy while touring homes with gay pop inventor JoJo Siwa and Gay Times cover stars Tinashe and Chris Appleton. In some of the series’ most tender moments, Chrishell confides in the latter about her and G-Flip’s attempts at IVF, while the married couple reflect on their future together – including a potential move to Australia.
While Chrishell continues to reign as Selling Sunset’s fan-favourite, boasting four million Instagram followers and serving as the show’s moral compass, season nine will be her last hurrah. “It was a nice answer from this chapter of my life that it’s time to move on,” she says of the reunion, in which she also shared a heated moment with Bre Tiesi. “Sometimes you really need the universe to slap you upside the head to be like, ‘What are we doing? Let’s move on. It’s time.’”
Chrishell speaks about all of the above in the following interview with Gay Times, as well as how her queer awakening and relationship with G-Flip shaped her time on the show — and why, in her words, “you can’t really beat serving cunt.”
Disclaimer: This interview took place on October 28, one day before the season nine premiere.
Chrishell, I’ve been aching for this chat because I’ve binged season nine…
You saw it?! Wait okay, you have to understand that I haven’t been able to talk to anyone who’s seen it. I’m dying to know… what did you think?”
Explosive. Honestly, I could not comprehend what I was watching a majority of the time?!
It’s crazy. It’s crazy. I’m holding my breath because we also have a reunion that we shot, and it was insane. I feel like it was even more insane than filming the season. I’m excited to hear that you enjoyed the season and liked it. Sometimes, when you’re so in it, you can’t pull away to understand how it is for the viewer, so I’m glad you were very entertained.
I watched all ten episodes in a row. That’s how entertained I was.
Oh my gosh, okay. I love that.
It feels a little… strange to say I was so entertained, since this is your actual life and your relationships are on the line?
No, no, it’s okay. Imagine I went through all of that and did all of that, and then, at the end of the day, people weren’t entertained? That would suck! So, if you want to put yourself through all of that and go through all the work, it’s a nice outcome to at least have a show that people are excited to watch.
You shot this around January. What was the experience like, and where was your head at during filming?
I think when we started the season, it was a little tumultuous because this was the first time we were getting everybody back after all the drama from the previous season. Tensions were really high, and then we got to a place where I was really having fun. I was doing amazing real estate, and I’m really proud of that. Then, of course, as we got toward the end, I had drama with my best friend at the time. It kind of goes through highs and lows, and I think we were filming for quite a while, so you get to run through that journey with us. Honestly, I feel like I’ve hit all the different emotions and markers along the way.
Can I just say, I loved how much queer flair you injected into the series with your guests.
That’s my favourite part of the whole season!
Also, why did we have to wait until episode nine to see G?! When they finally appeared, that wholesome energy felt so needed.
I know, I’m excited that we have that in the season. Obviously, it’s easily my favourite part. I just adore them and I am so protective of them. Our love is really beautiful, so it is nice to be able to share that, even if it is just a small sliver.
On top of your scenes with G, you also helped show homes to queer icons like JoJo Siwa, Tinashe, and your bestie Chris Appleton…
You’re right. I didn’t even think about the roster! I think there was one more, but yeah, for the LGBTQIA+ community, I had quite a lot. To be honest, those are my friends too, and it’s nice when you get to shoot and work with your friends. Chris Appleton and I have been friends for a long time, and I just adore him. And JoJo, I became friends with her through my partner because G has kind of mentored JoJo a little in the drumming space and in life and things like that. When she said she needed to sell her house, I was like, ‘Well, do you want to film it as well?’ Tinashe, who’s the most beautiful, is just an actual doll. She was such a love to work with. I’m so excited that we have lots of representation this season, and with G in it now, that makes me very happy.
You have some touching moments with G this season, especially around their desire to move to Australia. How are you both feeling about that currently?
It’s just always in the back of our minds. It’s a weird time in America, and so making sure we have those double passports is important. We were thinking of that even before, just because Australia is just such a beautiful place to be if you want to raise kids and stuff. And we have so much family there. Obviously, I have family here as well, but I really love Australia. It’s one of those [places] that I go to, whether it’s Sydney or Melbourne, where I’m like, ‘I could easily live here.’ So I actually do think that is in my future. I just don’t know when that will be.
The Australian sense-of-humour feels quite aligned with the British…
Totally. I love the c-word. It’s a big hit in both. I think it’s making a bit of a resurgence in America as well, but probably just from the queer community. I don’t know.
Sometimes just saying cunt does the job.
Sometimes you really need it as that period on the end of a sentence. Or you want to give someone the ultimate compliment. You can’t really beat serving cunt.
You bloody well can’t.
Not a lot of things top that.
I feel like it’s a bit more frowned upon in a heteronormative space…
I probably try not to, at least in America. If I’m in Australia, yeah, all systems go! People in America in a heteronormative space are still dodgy about that word.
Beyond the potential Australia move, you had a very tender moment with Chris about your IVF journey. Can you share how it’s gone since?
Since I filmed that, we actually did secure and have our donor. It was a big win for us, and we were so excited. Then it’s just been a little bit of a harder road, because getting an egg to fertilise with that has been quite an issue. I’ve done so many rounds that I think I might be at the point of throwing in the towel, and now it’s going to be G’s turn. So it doesn’t mean it’s over for us — we’re still going to try; we just have to use other options. We went with me first because time was a little more of the essence, so I’m not going to rule out maybe giving it one more college try. But I might also just be done. I don’t know. I haven’t fully decided. Sometimes you have to pivot, so I don’t have an answer tied up in a bow. I feel like at this point, one thing I’ve learned from life is to just not try to force something that’s not working. I really want to be in my soft girl era. I want to be able to enjoy things and try things, and if it’s not working, I’m not going to force it.
It was such a touching moment, seeing your friendship with Chris on display.
That was a really beautiful moment. That’s why I love filming with people that I actually adore — you don’t get that all the time. Sometimes it’s clients, and you’re being set up through a mutual friend or something. So it was really nice to have a real moment on the show. We didn’t even know we were going to get that personal or that deep, and we just kind of went there. I guess I’m just in a place where I don’t want to get my hopes up, because I’m always trying to understand the worst-case scenario… maybe we end up on an Italian beach somewhere and travel more, but obviously we are trying. It’s just been filled with ups and downs and maybe having to pivot. Maybe I’ll be a mom to dogs! I don’t know. I like to leave it open because I do get asked this a lot, and I think I want to be open with people. It’s not been an easy process, so maybe it’ll all be worth it down the line — or maybe it’ll be something where I’m topless on an Italian beach somewhere.
That sounds good too.
We’re going to take a boat around the harbour or something. Who knows what will happen, but that would be lovely if that’s in the cards.
It’s been so lovely watching your growth on the show. Discovering your queerness and finding G feels like such a big part of that. Was there a specific moment on Selling Sunset where your queer awakening shaped the way you handled a situation?
I am so fiercely protective of my partner and relationship, and I think filming for the show is quite a push and pull because I’m not in charge. Once you sit in front of those cameras, I have no say in what goes out to people. It’s the nature of the beast of reality television that some things go out that aren’t exactly how you said them, or aren’t in the context in which you said them. So I have been pretty protective of filming with G. I do love that you can see, from when I met them and our love for each other, that I attribute that to really finding my inner self, my inner voice, and trusting myself. I have a partner where we fully support and root for each other. I didn’t realise how much programming I had to deconstruct in my brain and in my head about how I present myself, or things that I unknowingly do to impress or do certain things that weren’t because I wanted to do them or to make me happy, if that makes sense.
I do think that being with G has really helped me come out of my shell and be my best self, and I think you see that on the show. As far as a specific moment, I think I just remembered the last reunion, and that was when everyone realised you can come after me for any reason, but if you touch the subject of my partner, it’s going to be a real fight — and you don’t want that fight. That’s one moment that stands out to me, and maybe to the audience, where people really respected the place I was at and the partner I was with, because I feel like you can tell that it is not put on for TV. That was a real emotion, and I was ready to do whatever it took — and as I am, to protect that with everything I have, because there’s nothing more important. Shows can come and go, but that is my priority.
In the first seasons, you stood your ground unapologetically, but now there’s this bold, fierce aura about you. A cunty aura, even!
Yes. I think I was a people pleaser, and I was so worried about being misconstrued or people not liking me. I have really thrown that out. I truly know that there are going to be times when people like me, or people don’t. Sometimes if you don’t like me for certain reasons, then I don’t like you, because sometimes they don’t like me for the sole reason that I am part of the queer community. That says a lot about that person and not about me. I don’t take that at all to diminish myself. I think it’s more embarrassing to them, to be honest. So I think finding that inner voice that doesn’t try to please everybody… it’s a sad existence when you’re trying to put yourself into a pretzel, trying to make everybody happy, and finally you get to a breaking point and you say, ‘Fuck it.’
Being with G and coming out as queer, it’s all been part of that moment. That’s what is so beautiful: people respond to that because you can see where it’s, like, it is what it is. You saw the season. I’m not always my best self. I have a dinner with Nicole, and she brings out the worst in me, and I’ll own that, but it is what it is. So does this person that my friend was dating at the time, or is dating, that we deal with on the show. I’m human and I have good days and bad days, but I’m not crazy, which I think comes through. Some of them can’t say the same…
That scene with Nicole… Seriously, what the fuck was that? Huh?
She really outdoes herself every time. I mean, really.
Let’s move on to the reunion…
It was very explosive. Listen, I had a turning point filming that reunion. It’s a long day. I don’t know how it’s going to come out, with what makes an hour’s worth of television, but it gets to such a place with these people and relationships that it was the answer I needed to be excited about starting a new chapter. Hopefully, like I said, it will be entertaining, but it was also a nice answer from this chapter of my life that it’s time to move on.
Chrishell, is that what I think it means?
But it won’t be the end for me, just in this iteration of… you’ll see when you see the reunion. Again, I don’t know how it’s going to come out. I look at it as both good and bad. Yes, it was brutal to film it, but sometimes you really need the universe to slap you upside the head to be like, ‘What are we doing? Let’s move on. It’s time.’
Chrishell, honestly, I’m only tuning in for you and Chelsea now. I’ve read stories and seen Instagram posts about how some of the stars in this franchise lean politically…
And that comes through [in the reunion].
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