Inside Chrishell Stause And Justin Hartley's Relationship
When things between Chrishell Stause and Justin Hartley were good, they seemed great. She bragged about her husband on the very first episode of "Selling Sunset," telling the camera, "My husband is Justin Hartley, maybe you've heard of him? He's on a show 'This Is Us.' I love him to death." She supported her husband in the media, too, telling Us Weekly, "I'm his biggest fan." She didn't even mind that her hunky husband had legions of other fans, fans who were no doubt jealous of her. "I get a kick out of when people see how great he is," she said. "I see it as a positive because he really is."
They had been together for five years when Stause started on "Selling Sunset." By the middle of Season 3, however, it was all over. What seemed like a storybook romance had come to an end. "Now I can see that what happened was a gift," Stause wrote in her memoir "Under Construction: Because Living My Best Life Took A Little Work." She added, "More than once, I swore I would not let my love life become tabloid fodder again, but you can see how well that turned out."
So, how did they get here? Read on for a look inside Justin Hartley and Chrishell Stause's relationship, from their initial meeting to how both sides of the couple managed to move on in the aftermath of their painful breakup.
Justin Hartley was married when they met
Chrishell Stause and Justin Hartley both kicked off their acting careers as soap stars. Stause played Amanda on "All My Children" and Jordan on "Days Of Our Lives," while Hartley starred on "Passions" as Fox Crane. "I knew of him just from being in the soap world," Stause wrote in her memoir "Under Construction." However, even though they were aware of one another, Stause and Hartley's relationship didn't begin right away. After all, Hartley was married.
The "Smallville" star wed his "Passions" co-star Lindsay Hartley back in 2004. Lindsay would go on to star on "All My Children" and "Days of Our Lives," just like Stause. It's no wonder Stause admits she and Justin crossed paths before they got together; after all, Stause and Lindsay were both part of the "All My Children" cast at the same time.
To be clear, we're not implying anything nefarious. TMZ reported that Justin and Lindsay Hartley were headed for divorce in May 2012. Lindsay filed the paperwork due to "irreconcilable differences," leaving Justin and Stause both single and free to pursue one another.
Justin Hartley and Chrishell Stause's musical first date
Now that Justin Hartley was divorced, an unnamed mutual friend set him up on a date with Chrishell Stause, who was then the friend's "Days of Our Lives" co-star. In October 2013, Stause and Hartley went to a concert together, although neither said who the artist was.
"We met up at a concert and talked all night," Hartley later told People. "I drove her home and called the next day. We haven't been apart since."
It seems that he wasn't exaggerating. To hear them tell it, both actors quickly fell for one another. Very quickly. Hartley recalled immediately knowing that he was crushing hard, reflecting, "I knew right away [and] was like, 'Oh boy, here we go.'" Stause, too, could tell that she'd met someone who would turn out to be a special person in her life. She confessed, "The next day I texted my friend: 'I found him.'"
Their engagement solidified their relationship
"I fell hard and fast and thought that he hung the moon," Chrishell Stause wrote in her memoir "Under Construction." Justin Hartley, it seems, was just as smitten with his girlfriend. While appearing on Harry Connick Jr.'s talk show "Harry," the "This Is Us" star said that everything made sense with Stause. "When you meet that one person, you realize, like, what the hell have I been doing my whole life?" he pondered. "This is the person, you know?"
Hartley was nervous about getting married again, considering the fact that his last marriage ended in divorce. He told Anthem Magazine, "Divorces are not amazing. To get yourself into a place where you're ready to make that commitment again, it takes a special person, a special situation, and a special chemistry."
That being said, Hartley evidently felt that he had that special chemistry with Stause. She announced their engagement on X, formerly known as Twitter, in July 2016, sharing a snap of herself sunning her legs, strategically showing off a shiny ring on her finger. "You guys think I need sunscreen?" she wrote, ending the tweet with a ring emoji, a heart-eyes emoji, and her fiancé's name. Despite his initial misgivings, Justin Hartley and Chrishell Stause were headed down the aisle.
Their wedding took place in Malibu
Chrishell Stause and Justin Hartley got married in Malibu, four years to the day after that fateful concert where they fell in love. According to People, 75 guests watched as Stause walked down an aisle covered in rose petals. They read handwritten vows to one another under a canopy formed by trees, and they officially became husband and wife. "Chrishell was crying and Justin was so moved," a guest told the outlet. "The whole ceremony was so personal and heartfelt."
After getting married, both Stause and Hartley had their eye on growing old together. "I imagined being 80 years old on a porch with my husband someday, holding wrinkly hands and laughing about an inside joke," Stause wrote in her memoir "Under Construction." Hartley, on the other not-yet-wrinkly hand, told People something similar. "At the risk of sounding cheesy, I look forward to sharing life experiences and growing old together," he gushed. "Someday, we can talk about all the things we did together 30 years ago!"
The couple may have had problems awaiting them in the future, but on their wedding day, everything seemed perfect. Stause told People, "The wedding exceeded anything I could have ever imagined."
Chrishell Stause appreciated Justin Hartley's romantic side
At first, it seemed like Justin Hartley and Chrishell Stause's marriage was going very well. She told Us Weekly that they were both working in separate locations. He was shooting a movie in New Orleans, and they decided to meet up in New York City. He arrived first.
"When I walked into the hotel room, he had a cheese board waiting for me," Stause recalled, emphasizing her love for cheese. "That's the sixth on the love languages, if you didn't know. So he had a cheese board waiting for me and a bottle of wine. And it was just so sweet and so nice."
In 2018, they both starred together in a movie called "Another Time." The film's director Thomas Hennessy had glowing things to say about both actors in an interview with NovelPro Junkie. "To see that guy come in day after day, and just nail it every day, was such a treat to just experience, let alone be able to collaborate with on a creative level," he said. Hennessy also said that Stause gave his favorite line reading in the film, calling her a "heavy hitter" among the cast.
They thought about having kids
When she married Justin Hartley, Chrishell Stause became a stepmother to his daughter Bella, whom he shares with his ex-wife. "Proud to be a stepmom to the lovely [Bella]," Stause wrote on X on Mother's Day in 2018. She shared photos of herself and her stepdaughter on her wedding day, acknowledging, "We were a bit emotional that day ... Love you, Bella!"
Hartley seems to be a devoted dad. He told Us Weekly that he looks at parenting like golf; you're going to make errors, he said, but you just want to minimize them. "My daughter's great, though," he said. "She helps me through everything. She really does. We do it together."
In 2019, Stause told the same outlet that the couple hadn't yet decided if and when they would have kids of their own. "We don't know [when] yet," she said, pointing out that her stepdaughter was now a teenager. "We've got our hands full with high school," Stause joked. In her memoir "Under Construction," Stause wrote that having kids together was important to her, and she only began to think it would be possible after feeling stable thanks to being cast on "Days of Our Lives." She wrote, "I had a conversation about kids with Justin early on in our relationship because having a child eventually was important to me." Ultimately, children together were not in the cards, and the couple would soon encounter trouble.
He refused to film for Selling Sunset
2019 turned out to be a pivotal year in Chrishell Stause's life. "Selling Sunset" premiered that March, launching Stause to even higher levels of fame than she'd known in her soap opera days. The show revolved around Stause's new job at The Oppenheim Group, a Los Angeles real estate firm focused on selling some seriously impressive homes to some seriously rich clients. Stause, as the newest broker, found herself battling with a number of strong personalities at the office. Curiously absent from the show, however, was much about her personal life. Unlike some of her co-stars, who aired out their romantic drama on the show, Stause's spouse didn't put in an appearance.
Series creator Adam DiVello told Variety, "We certainly asked many, many times." DiVello suspected that Hartley was prevented from appearing on the Netflix show by his NBC contract for "This Is Us," though he didn't elaborate on whether Hartley would've done the show if he were allowed to.
A source told Entertainment Tonight that people close to the couple felt that Hartley's "This Is Us" fame had changed him. More importantly, they felt it had changed the way he related to his wife, who wasn't quite on his level. "Justin is finally getting his big break in Hollywood and it's completely changed him and how he treated his marriage," the source said. Soon, Stause would come to realize this for herself.
Chrishell Stause was shocked when her husband filed for divorce
"I never could have predicted how it all came crashing down so forcefully," Chrishell Stause wrote in her memoir "Under Construction." Her marriage to Justin Hartley ended suddenly in November 2019, when she received a surprising text message from her husband. "The night before, I'd been hosting a charity event where he donated some signed items to be auctioned, and the next morning, it was all over," she wrote.
Stause was filming for "Selling Sunset" at the time, so the drama played out on the hit Netflix show. "I found out because he text [sic] me that we were filed," Stause cried to co-star Mary Fitzgerald. "Forty-five minutes later, the world knew." Sure enough, news broke that same day that Hartley had moved to divorce his wife. Stause wrote, "Although there were definitely signs that things were far from perfect, ending things in such a finite way ... was a complete shock. I was devastated, of course."
In the aftermath of the news that shocked "Selling Sunset" and "This Is Us" fans around the world, Stause's friends spoke with People about how she was doing. Stause was extremely hurt, the sources said, because she expected her marriage to last no matter what. "She wanted to be sure that when they said their vows, they meant them," the source revealed. "And she did — she would have stayed forever."
Their split was finalized in 2021
Because she's on reality television, a lot of aspects of Chrishell Stause's life are public knowledge. Fans got to see her in the immediate aftermath of learning about Justin Hartley's intent to divorce her, and they got to see her picking up the pieces of a life she thought she had settled into. "Divorce is humiliating, and it can make you feel like a failure as a person," Stause wrote in her memoir "Under Construction." "Now add tabloids, paparazzi, and a camera crew following you in real-time, and it was a recipe for the lowest point in my life to date."
Stause writes that she thought about leaving "Selling Sunset," withdrawing from public life. "I contemplated quitting a lot of things because suddenly I felt like nothing mattered, including myself," she wrote, adding, "I ultimately decided I couldn't lose my job too."
She decided to stay in the public eye. However, a year after Hartley texted her that he was filing for divorce, they worked things out in private. Us Weekly reported that there was no prenuptial agreement, so they had to determine the conditions of their separation after the fact. "Both parties entered into a confidential settlement as to terms of the divorce, including spousal support," a source said. In other words, good luck trying to figure out whether his "This Is Us" residuals or her real estate commissions were better. A second source told the outlet, "Chrishell has moved on with her life."
Chrishell Stause sold her wedding ring
On "Selling Sunset," fans watched as Chrishell Stause dealt with the aftermath of her divorce. The dissolution of the relationship meant Stause needed to find a new place to live, so she worked her real estate connections and wound up buying herself a $3.3 million ranch-style home in the Hollywood Hills. Us Weekly reported that the house has four bedrooms and four and a half baths, plus a pool and views of the canyons. She held a housewarming party that June, posting photos to her Instagram that showed her partying alongside familiar faces like "Selling Sunset" co-star Amanza Smith. "Big moment for me and I am so lucky with who I get to celebrate with," she captioned the photos.
Stause wrote in her memoir "Under Construction" that she grew up poor, so having her own home was, understandably, a big deal. "Moving into my home, a home I'd worked hard to earn (okay, fine, selling my wedding ring helped), was a major milestone that I won't forget," she wrote.
Wait, let's back up ... selling her wedding ring? Sure enough, Stause confirmed on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" that she offloaded the ring Justin Hartley had given her in order to help pay for the new house. "When sometimes life gives you lemons, sometimes you gotta add a little vodka," she explained. "I was trying to make the best out of a situation."
Chrishell Stause moved on with her boss
Shortly after the end of Chrishell Stause's marriage to Justin Hartley, she appeared on "Dancing with the Stars." She struck up a relationship with dancer Keo Motsepe, which the pair confirmed on their Instagram Stories in December 2020 (via Us Weekly). However, the fling didn't last all that long; by February 2021, People reported that they had broken up.
A few months later, Stause had found someone new. Someone very familiar to fans of "Selling Sunset." That's right; we're talking about her boss, Jason Oppenheim. People confirmed they were dating in July 2021, when Oppenheim told the magazine, "Chrishell and I became close friends and it has developed into an amazing relationship." Their relationship played out on Season 5 of "Selling Sunset," where it caused drama between Stause and her fellow co-workers. Series villain Christine Quinn was particularly upset, complaining, "I was wondering why I wasn't getting listings for a while and then I was like, 'Oh yeah, because I'm not f****** my boss'" (via Vanity Fair).
Ultimately, Stause and Oppenheim didn't last. While they remained friends and colleagues after splitting up, the relationship ended because Oppenheim did not want children. "If you decide that you don't want to be a father, I don't think I could go forward with you," Stause told him, and they agreed to go their separate ways. Romantically speaking, that is; both are still on the hit Netflix show, and they seem to be on good terms.
Justin Hartley's new wife
Chrishell Stause wasn't the only one to move on after her split from Justin Hartley. He, too, quickly went public with a new romance, and it turned out to be someone he's known for a while. Hartley worked with actor Sofia Pernas on "The Young and The Restless" back in 2015, which was before he and Stause had even gotten married. "We didn't work together that closely, and we didn't work together that long," Hartley told Haute Living. "I knew that she was very kind and very nice. I liked being around her. But I was in a different place in my life."
After leaving Stause, Hartley reconnected with his former co-worker. "I'm very lucky to not only have found 'the one,' but I found her when she was available and the timing was right," he said. Rumors began to swirl about the relationship in May 2020, according to TMZ, roughly six months after he filed for divorce from Stause. They confirmed their relationship at the end of the year, posing together on Pernas' Instagram.
While speaking with Haute Living, Hartley confirmed that he and Pernas married in March 2021. "It's incredible when you're not forcing things," he reflected. "It doesn't have to be that hard."
Chrishell's new relationship
After she broke up with Jason Oppenheim, Chrishell Stause fell in love with someone new. At a Halloween party in 2021, Stause met G Flip, an Australian musician who is nonbinary. They were both dressed like skeletons, which seemed like fate. "My costume would've cost me all but $15. And Chrishell looked like a million-dollar skeleton," G Flip told Vogue Australia. A few months later, at a party where Stause got stood up by someone else, she wound up kissing her new friend. "I definitely still thought I was straight at that party!" Stause recalled.
Soon enough, though, it became hard for Stause to ignore her feelings. She was supposed to appear on a dating show that would likely see her end up dating a man, but Stause realized that was no longer something she was interested in. "I'm attracted to energy, not whatever physical thing that people have in their head," she explained to Vogue Australia. In a May 2022 Instagram video, she clarified her sexuality. "I know some of you won't understand this or agree with this," she said, "but for me, it is about the person."
In May 2023, Stause posted an Instagram Reel about her partner. The Reel contained clips of their relationship, and it ended with a photo of the two marrying in Vegas. "Love doesn't always go as planned," she wrote in the caption. She added, "Sometimes it's immeasurably better."