Stause was the new girl in the office during Season 1, but by Season 4 (which is currently streaming) she’s learned the ropes to become one of the most popular agents at The Oppenheim Group. “In Season 1, I thought I was doing a show about real estate, like an HGTV type of show,” Stause tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “Now, of course, when we step onto the scene, we really know what we signed up for, we know what they’re going to want us to talk about.” And what the producers of the reality series want the women to talk about is their personal lives, their relationships with the other agents in the office and the multimillion-dollar homes that they are selling. “We appreciate everyone watching, so we want to step it up with hair, and makeup, and clothes in Season 4,” Stause explained. “And we’re really trying to have a lot of fun with it. Even when it gets a little tense and it’s not exactly the easiest things to film, we still, hopefully, all have a sense of we really are lucky to be here. I think as long as that is the one thing we can all agree on, then I think it tends to be a show that could be successful for a while.” Speaking of long-term success, Selling Sunset is already confirmed for a fifth season, and it’s one everyone’s looking forward to for a very specific season: It’s expected to be the season where Stause and her boss, Jason Oppenheim—who are dating—will finally have cameras following their relationship. That didn’t happen in Season 4 because filming had already ended by the time the couple went Instagram-official on July 28, 2021. In previous seasons, fans have watched Oppenheim work side by side with Mary Fitzgerald, who he also used to date, and Stause says it will be the same in her relationship with him. Meaning, it won’t get weird. “That is one of my most asked questions, and that would be the last thing that happens,” Stause says. “We worked together so much. We were best friends, and we had such a great working relationship, and that never really changed. The only thing that would maybe make it weird or that changed were other peoples’ reactions and that went away pretty quickly. But initially, yeah, I think it was maybe weird for other people, but it wasn’t really weird for us.” Selling Sunset Season 4 ended with tons of unresolved drama—including the threat of Christine Quinn’s departure from the firm—but there’s good news for fans who can’t wait for more: Season 5 already in the can! “Next season, I think that it’ll get a little more into my personal life and some of the real estate I do in Season 5 is also some of my biggest listings to date,” Stause teased. “So, I was excited about the real estate aspect of it all. As far as the drama element, of course, that is there. It’s never my personal favorite; it gives me anxiety to do it and to watch it. But hopefully, we’ll get a lot of those things resolved and answered that you had open questions to from season 4.” Stause also talked to us about her new spokesperson duties for the Creative Cloud Express app, which she is using to help her move her real estate listings, her upcoming memoir, being self-sufficient, whether or not she sees a return to acting in her future and more.
You are a spokesperson for Creative Cloud Express, this new drag and drop app to create content for people who aren’t graphic designers. As someone who’s not a graphic designer, how do you use it?
I think it’s amazing to be able to cater to people like myself, where in the past these are the types of things, you’d have to hire people to do and you’re on phone calls with them trying to explain how you want it. And now is the day of social media, so to be able to have these amazing posts, whether it’s just fun social posts or real estate, it helps you make your post stand out. I think it’s really amazing for regular people that aren’t graphic designers to have those tools. I’m not the most technologically advanced. And oh my gosh, me trying to erase a background and put something in the front, I truly spent hours on other apps trying to do this stuff until I just gave up and realized, “Okay fine, I see why the real estate open houses and posts all tend to look the same.” Now I’m excited because I’m working on what is my biggest listing to date with Creative Cloud Express, and I’m going to make sure that it stands out. I’m having fun with it to just be able to make it pop. Which is more my personality. I didn’t like the static posts that I always ended up having to post.
So it’s not just the photos of the houses you sell, but you’re able to create graphics that make it pop. Is that what you’re saying?
Yeah. What I’m currently working on, you can have the photo of the house that you want to showcase as your main photo, but you can put your picture in the front, you can put all the details, you can have it blink. Things before were very static, very swipe to look at the house. Now you can do video content, you can do all these different things that just catch your eye, and I think that’s the biggest thing. And you can save the templates. So once I figured out what I liked the most, now I have it so that it’s so quick for the next time I need it, which I love.
You bought a house that was more money than you expected to spend. What’s it like now to own it and not to have to rely on anybody else to take care of you, to be self-sufficient?
Can I just tell you it’s probably the best feeling in the whole world? I think we all are trying to figure life out, and it’s filled with ups and downs, but this is truly one of the ups that I’m so proud of, that I’ll never get over. I absolutely love my house. I’ve been enjoying slowly tweaking it to different things that I really love. It’s just such a feeling of accomplishment, so I’m really proud and I love it. I couldn’t possibly love this house more. I never, ever want to leave this house. Of course, as a real estate agent that’s what everyone says, but everyone normally sells within five to seven years. That’s the statistic. I say this now, but I really do feel like I never want to leave.
You have a memoir coming out in February called Under Construction: Living my Best Life Took a Lot of Work. Great title. Why is it so perfect for what you wrote?
This book started when we were in the middle of lockdown and there was a lot of uncertainty in the world, so it was kind of a cathartic period. And then all of a sudden, the world opened back up, we started filming the show, and I ended up writing my last chapter in my new home. So, the first chapter was written, I’d gone through a lot of loss, the world was in this crazy pandemic. Then to be able to end it in my home, in such a different place in my life, having healed a lot from losing my parents and all that stuff. It was an amazing process. It was really hard. It was harder than I could have imagined because it’s not like before when I just sat down and wrote. [For the memoir] you need to make sure the structure is there, and meet the deadlines. I wanted it to be touching, but I also wanted it to be funny. So, I wanted to have people be able to be inspired by those moments where you really do feel a little lost and find your place again. I’m hoping that that’s something that people can look at and be inspired by and laugh alongside of some of the anecdotes that I go a little more in depth about.
You’re spending so much time on real estate now, are you still auditioning? Do you miss acting?
You know, that’s what’s so interesting. I am. Listen, I love doing both but there is only so much time in a day. But I truly do love acting and it’s something that I don’t ever want to give up. I actually just had a meeting with a show. I can’t go do a regular character on a show, I wouldn’t have the time. But I am in talks to pop in and out as a fun character, which would be truly best-case scenario for me. So, I hope that’s something that pans out. It’s definitely conversations I’m having. Because at this point why not try and have it all? I don’t know if it’s possible, but I’m going to try.
Does doing reality TV affect that from the perception of who you are?
No, I think that when you’re acting, you’re playing a character. And also, when I was acting, a lot of times I got cast as the bad guy. And it’s a lot of fun to play the bad guy. So, you can definitely play against type, or you can do those fun things where you’re coming in and you’re the realtor or something like that. So, there’s definitely talks and I’m super excited. I really hope now that we’re starting to go on a break soon that I can get a few of those things in, because acting will always be my first love.
You mentioned earlier that for the new season you all wanted to look good, which you do. That said, do you ever go in the office when you know the cameras aren’t going to be there in sweats? Because it takes a long time to put together your on-camera looks.
A lot of times. 100 percent. It depends on if I’m meeting a client or not. If I’m not meeting a client, but I need to go into the office and get some marketing materials or pick up a commission check, whatever it is. A lot of times I’ll be running errands, so I need to go to the bank, so I’ll drop by to pick something up. So that happens a lot actually. Fans always come by the office to take pictures. And sometimes they’ll see me dressed to the nines, and then sometimes they’ll see me and I’m in sweatpants and tennis shoes, no makeup. So, it just depends on the day.
For the People’s Choice Awards, you showed up with dark hair. Have you switched your look or was that just a washable rinse?
I always think it’s fun for red carpets to do something different and fun, so that was an idea we had. I initially was going to dye it, and then the guy who does my hair color, Bradley, he’s incredible, he was worried that we might mess up the integrity of the hair itself. So instead, we put a toner on the front of the hair and toned that down a little bit, and then put on a wig for fun. I think I fooled most people because all the articles were about how I debuted a new look. And then the next day, I posted a picture of the wig on the floor. I was like, “Sorry guys, I didn’t know. I wasn’t trying to trick you.” But it was funny. I will go back to dark at some point. I would do it gradually. I do want to go back darker, but I think it’s something I would do slowly.
Are you still dancing?
It was hard because when I got done with Dancing with the Stars, the world wasn’t open to continue classes, which I would have loved to have done. So, now I want to but I’m a little scared because I think I forgot everything.
It’s like riding a bike. You just have to get your muscles back in shape. But it’s such a good form of exercise.
Oh my gosh, it’s the best form of exercise. Absolutely.
Because everybody on the show always says, “I lost 10 pounds on the Dancing with the Stars diet.”
You have no choice. You’re just so active. Your body just snaps into incredible shape. When I would touch my leg I was like, “I can’t believe this is my leg.” Season 4 of Selling Sunset is currently streaming on Netflix. Next, Feuds! Friends! Million-Dollar Mansions! What Goes Down on Selling Sunset Season 4
