With everything that’s transpired for Chrishell Stause over the past few years, we didn't think that things could get more stressful, but a recent development in her personal life promises to make the office dynamic of The Oppenheim Group a little bit more...complicated, if you will. Stause is dating her boss and friend Jason Oppenheim, and you can thank Jennifer Lopez for the unique way that the Netflix personality shared the truly shocking news with the world.
Soap actress-turned-realtor Stause is a core employee at The Oppenheim Group and a main character in Netflix’s Selling Sunset. When we first met her on the show, Stause was happily married to This Is Us star Justin Hartley, but that relationship quickly tanked; without warning, Hartley filed for divorce in 2019, setting the stage for a rocky ending to the series' third season. She's since bounced back from the traumatic public split after being plagued with dating rumours here and there. But her alleged new beau may be her most shocking relationship yet.
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On Wednesday July 28, Stause shared a photoset from a trip to Italy with friends and co-stars Mary Fitzgerald, Romain Bonnet, and Brett and Jason Oppenheim, as well as rumoured new cast member Tina Louise. At the end of the photoset, however, was a surprise: two photos of Stause and Jason snuggling on a yacht.
"The JLo effect," read Stause's caption, punctuated with a shrug emoji.
What exactly is "the J.Lo effect?" I'm glad you asked. On Lopez's recent 52nd birthday, she claimed her rumoured boyfriend Ben Affleck for the first time since they began dating (again) months ago, breaking the internet with a photoset that concluded with a reveal of the couple making out. Lopez kept it short and sweet, not even bothering to tag Affleck in the photo, but the message was clear: Real or fake, Bennifer is back, and you will deal.
I don't think anyone saw Stause and Jason's love connection coming — her last public relationship was with Dancing with the Stars professional Keo Motsepe — but the former actress took a page out of Lopez's playbook to debut her own new romance nonetheless. And in case the pictures weren't enough, the elated comments from the Selling Sunset couple's friend circle excitedly confirmed the romance.
"Nothing makes me more excited than to see two of my closest friends together and making each other so happy!" wrote Fitzgerald in the comments section.
"So happy for you guys! Finally people will stop with Jason and Mary hopefully," added Bonnet. (His wife famously dated Jason before they decided to keep their relationship platonic.)
"Love you Chrishell.," said Brett. "Thank you for making my brother happy."
Jason himself also confirmed the new romance through an official statement shared by his representatives, saying that he and Stause have "an amazing relationship" and "are very happy together." Though truly thrown by this seemingly random development, fans of the show can only celebrate the co-stars' happiness. Given everything that Stause has been through, she deserves to find love again (and I think J.Lo would absolutely agree). But also...Netflix, you're totally filming this for season four, right? Right??