not just a showmance

Chrishell Stause’s queer relationship is giving ‘Selling Sunset’ fans a welcome dose of reality

Photo Credit: Getty Images

This profile is part of Queerty’s 2022 Out For Good series, recognizing public figures who’ve had the courage to come out and make a difference in the past year, in a month-long celebration of National Coming Out Day on October 11.

Name: Terrina “Chrishell” Stause, 41

Bio: Selling Sunset‘s Chrishell Stause was born to be a reality star. As legend has it, Stause’s mother gave birth to her at a Shell gas station in small-town Kentucky with the help of an attendant named Chris, devising her middle name as a tribute to the peculiar circumstances (Chris + Shell… get it?).

But is that really true? In her memoir Under Construction, Stause dismisses the story as gossip—even though she first told the story on Selling Sunset!

The bottom line is: Stause is the type of personality who knows how to capture our attention, just as she’s done for five seasons (and counting) on the hit Netflix reality show. The series centers on The Oppenheim Group, a high-end real estate firm in Los Angeles, and the intermingling personal and professional lives of its employees.

As one of the firm’s most valuable and charismatic brokers, Stause became an instant breakout when Selling Sunset debuted in 2019, and was recently named as the “Best Reality Star” at the 2022 MTV Movie and TV Awards.

 

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A post shared by Chrishell (@chrishell.stause)

Before ascending to reality TV royalty, Stause was a prolific daytime soap actress, first appearing on ABC’s All My Children in 2005 and remaining a series regular until its cancellation in 2011. Her other credits in the ensuing decade included Days Of Our Lives and The Young And The Restless, and it was during this time that she met and married fellow actor Justin Hartley (This Is Us).

After the pair’s highly publicized divorce was finalized in 2021, Stause was subsequently linked to her Selling Sunset co-star (and boss) Jason Oppenheim. But as the arc of their workplace relationship played out over the show’s fifth season, rumors swirled in real-time that Stause had a new romantic partner, one that took fans by surprise: Nonbinary musician G Flip.

 

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Coming Out: After a couple months of flirty Instagram comments and tabloid speculation, Stause confirmed her relationship with G Flip on—where else?—Selling Sunset‘s season 5 reunion, which dropped on Netflix in earlier this year.

During the special episode, host Tan France (Queer Eye) asked Stause if she was seeing “anyone special,” to which the star proudly replied: “I recently have been spending a lot of time with someone that’s very important to me. Their name is G Flip. They’re non-binary, so they go by they/them. And they are an extremely talented musician.”

As it turns out, the pair became close when Stause appeared in G Flip’s music video for the song “Get Me Outta Here,” and had stayed in touch since.

Sensing that her connection with G Flip would inspire a lot of speculation, Stause took the Selling Sunset reunion stage as an opportunity to speak her truth: “You don’t get to choose when you come into someone’s life.”

Though she avoided labeling her sexuality in any specific way, Stause got honest about what she looks for in a partner: “It is about the person. It is about their heart,” she continues. “And yes there’s that part of you—that’s like what you’re attracted to, but for me, I am attracted to masculine energy and I don’t really care what the physical form is.”

Talking The Talk, Walking The Walk: While it may be tempting to write off Stause and G Flip’s relationship as a “showmance”—one that’s sure to generate headlines and plot lines—the reality star has been vocal supporter of the LGBTQ community in a way that shows she’s genuine and using her platform for good.

A few days after the Selling Sunset reunion aired, Stause posted a thoughtful Instagram video, providing further context for the relationship and explaining how her time with G Flip has opened her world up to new possibilities. She used the video as a chance to educate her 3.6 million followers on what it means to be nonbinary, they/them pronouns, and the difference between gender and sexuality.

 

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A post shared by Chrishell (@chrishell.stause)

There’s also that time when she tweeted in support of marriage equality, stating, “I can not believe we are even still asking this in 2022.” When a troll asked if this was because Stause was “a lesbian all of a sudden,” she fired back with the perfect response:

Media savvy, candid, and open-hearted, Stause is the type of reality star we’re thrilled to have speaking up for our community.

 

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A post shared by Chrishell (@chrishell.stause)

 

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A post shared by Chrishell (@chrishell.stause)

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