Chrishell Stause has surprised fans by announcing her exit from the popular series “Selling Sunset” after being a fixture for nine seasons.

The 44-year-old reality star, who has been with the Netflix show since it launched in 2019, shared her decision to leave in an interview with Bustle. Stause opened up about the intense pressure of filming and its impact on her mental well-being.

“I’ve reached a point where I no longer need the show for financial reasons. Fortunately, I have other job opportunities, and staying on the show is not beneficial for my mental health anymore,” she explained.

Despite her departure, Stause expressed gratitude for the opportunities the show provided, saying, “The show has opened many doors for me, and I don’t want to leave with any bitterness, even though it’s not exactly how I imagined my exit.”

Stause emphasized that the decision to leave was entirely hers, noting that the show’s creator, Adam DiVello, had been persistently reaching out to persuade her to stay, contacting her “100 times a day.”

Still, the choice wasn’t easy. ‘I’ve vacillated back and forth with this decision in the past… I have to be honest, having come from nothing, it’s really hard to turn something like this down,’ she admitted. 

The Daily Mail has contacted a representative for Netflix for further comment and has yet to hear back. 

Chrishell Stause has announced her shock departure from Selling Sunset after nine seasons 

The star is an OG cast member of the hit real estate show – pictured with Heather Young, Maya Vander and Mary Fitzgerald in 2019

The exit comes after an argument between Chrishell and Nicole Young spawned from the latter’s false claims that their co-star Emma Hernan was having an affair with a married man

Behind the scenes, tensions on Selling Sunset were reportedly far more intense than what fans saw on screen. 

Stause says this season, in particular, she struggled with the way editors chose to portray conflicts. 

‘I get it, they want to make a light show,’ she told Bustle. ‘And if I was doing a show with less problematic people, I can totally see their point.’ 

Among her biggest clashes this season was with Emma Hernan, specifically over her boyfriend Blake Davis, whom Stause openly disapproves of. 

‘He compared being nonbinary to having a mental illness,’ Stause alleges. 

Her partner, musician G-Flip, is nonbinary; Davis has previously denied using derogatory language toward Stause.

She added: ‘He constantly posts anti-trans stuff… He thinks it’s too woke if you don’t sing the N word in songs. 

‘He posted something the other day, with a gun in view, saying he wants to ‘sue [me for lying] my d**k off.’” 

Stause added that the departure from the hit show was very much on her own terms – and claimed creator Adam DiVello had been calling and texting ‘100 times a day’ in a bid to get her back

Hernan disputed some of these claims on the Season 9 reunion. 

Stause also says the editing left her looking like the ‘overbearing friend.’ 

‘But there are so many things that would’ve completely vindicated me and my opinion, and they left all of it out,’ she added. 

She further raised concerns about Davis’ behavior toward Hernan: 

‘They would break up, and she would tell me these horrific things that he would say to her, that he would do. He thought it was funny to say, “If you ever do that again, I’ll beat you.” Who jokes about that? It’s not funny.’ 

Last month, tensions between Stause and Young boiled over during a fiery dinner party on the latest season of Selling Sunset, when Young made a cruel remark about Stause’s late parents. 

Stause’s father, Jeff, passed away from lung cancer in 2019, followed by her mother a year later, who tragically succumbed to the same disease. 

After Stause leveraged prior accusations about her co-star’s alleged drug overdose, she hit back: ‘Honey, you’re confusing me with your parents, OK? You seem to be obsessed with drugs.’

It was not taken lightly, with the dinner party aggressively calling for Young to leave immediately.

She was subsequently reprimanded by Oppenheim Group bosses Brett and Jason Oppenheim and fired from her job as a real estate agent.

The argument between the pair spawned from Young’s false claims that their co-star Emma Hernan was having an affair with a married man.

Following Young’s biting remark about Stause’s mother and father, Amanza Smith, 48, responded, ‘I hope you are on drugs because this is f***ing inexcusable.’

She demanded that Young leave the dinner, and pointed out that Stause’s parents ‘are dead.’

But Young did not back down as she called out Stause’s swipe and argued, ‘She’s talked about [her parents] being addicts.

‘It is “OK” for me to continually be called a drug addict. You talked about your parents doing drugs.’

Meanwhile, Hernan labeled Young ‘sick and evil’ as the group of women seemed to gang up on their now-former co-star.

Following the ouster, some fans took to X and Instagram to weigh in on the explosive confrontation, with one calling Young’s remark about Stause’s parents ‘diabolical.’ 

Stause is married to non-binary musician G Flip (pictured March)

When she first shot to fame on the show, she was wed to actor Justin Hartley – pictured 2019

Stause also feuded with Hernan over the star’s romance with Blake Davis (pictured). Stause, who is married to non-binary musician G-Flip, claimed Davis ‘compared being nonbinary to having a mental illness – Davis has denied this

Taking Young’s side, one person wrote online, ‘You can’t keep calling someone a drug addict and weaponizing their private medical moments not expect them to take it to hell when they finally respond.’

Another wrote off the show entirely, saying on Instagram: ‘I’m so done with this show. They didn’t even bother to try to stop Chrishell from slandering and sharing someone’s personal medical info, but they fire someone for making a comparison to a person that openly stated her parents OD’d while simultaneously trying g.’

Earlier this year Stause apologized to Selling Sunset viewers after her co-star Amanza Smith’s stylist made ‘homophobic’ remarks about G Flip.

She wrote a lengthy message on her Story firing back at stylist, Sammie Moussallem, who she claimed was lying about finances, misleading the public and ‘policing [her] sexuality.’

This came a day after Sammie issued an apology via Instagram since he called Stause a ‘fake lesbian’ on season eight of Selling Sunset.

With Stause exiting, Selling Sunset loses its only queer-identified cast member — a role that she admits could feel isolating at times. 

Reflecting on her experiences before and after coming out, she told Bustle, ‘I think people think they’re an ally, but they’re not realizing the lived experience of having lived half of my time at the brokerage being ‘straight’ and then living the other half really noticing the stark differences.’

She added that it sometimes took a while for her relationship with G-Flip to be taken seriously by the group. 

Either way, fans may struggle to picture Selling Sunset without Stause, as she has been the face of the series since 2019

‘I actually understand a lot of the jarringness of the whole thing. Iconic, love it, wouldn’t change it. We laugh about it now, but I can look back and understand,’ she said.

This isn’t the first time Stause threatened to walk away. 

After Season 8 dropped in September 2024, she wrote on Instagram that she ‘will NEVER work on a show’ with Nicole Young again and ‘would rather be sued’ than return. 

Yet both returned for Season 9.

Either way, fans may struggle to picture Selling Sunset without Stause, as she has been the face of the series since 2019. 

‘If they do continue, I wish them the best,; she said. ‘If they do do another one, by then, I may not watch it. I don’t know. But I have no ill will toward the show. 

‘The show has given me so many opportunities, and I don’t want to be bitter about it, even though I’m leaving not in the way that I would’ve loved.’