The ‘Selling Sunset’ Curse: Every Split That Rocked the Franchise

A reality television career can be tough on a marriage, but few unscripted series have a higher divorce rate than Netflix’s Selling Sunset franchise.

Several stars of the real estate series have seen their marriages fall apart since the OG show’s March 2019 debut. Chrishell Stause became the first victim of what some have called “the Selling Sunset curse” when her then-husband, Justin Hartley, filed for divorce in November 2019 after two years of marriage. Stause went on to detail the relationship’s demise during season 3 of the reality show.

“I found out because he text[ed] me that we were filed,” she said during an episode that aired in 2020. “Forty-five minutes later, the world knew.”

While the filing came as a surprise, Stause acknowledged that Hartley often threatened to divorce her during arguments.

“In a fight, like, that’s his go-to. Like, ‘I’m out, I’m out.’ I hate that kind of impulsive stuff, but I always just thought: ‘That’s an issue, we’ll work through it,’” she said. “If [divorce is] really what you wanted, there are better ways to go about it.”

Keep scrolling to see which Selling Sunset franchise stars have watched the sun set on their love stories:

Chrishell Stause and Justin Hartley

Stause and the This Is Us alum finalized their split in January 2021. Although Hartley never appeared on Selling Sunset, he was a presence on the show as Stause shared her side of their split.

During a season 4 episode, which aired in 2021, Stause reflected on how far she’d come since the divorce.

“I feel like I’ve found my voice. There’s no anger left there because now I’ve realized that’s not something I wanted for myself,” she said. “I mean, if he wants to have 50 wives, go live your best life because I really feel like I am. … Once you know something wasn’t right, whether it was your decision or not, now you are where you’re meant to be.”

Hartley moved on with his The Young and the Restless costar Sofia Pernas, whom he married in 2021. Stause, meanwhile, briefly dated boss and Selling Sunset costar Jason Oppenheim in 2021 before moving on with musician G Flip. The pair tied the knot in May 2023.

Juawana Colbert and Bryan Williams

Colbert opened up about her divorce from Williams after five years of marriage during a December 2021 episode of the Selling Sunset spinoff Selling Tampa, which premiered that same month.

“I love him. He still loves me. It’s just not working out,” she said. “The good thing is we’re not, we’re not vindictive. … We’re going to still be friends. I don’t think we’re able to work it out. I love him as a person in general, but I feel like I needed more from a marriage.”

Tyler Stanaland and Brittany Snow

Stanaland stars on the Selling Sunset spinoff Selling the OC, which debuted in August 2022. That same month, Stanaland claimed on an episode of the “Reality Life With Kate Casey” podcast that his costar Kayla Cardona had tried to kiss him on multiple occasions.

Cardona apologized to Stanaland during a subsequent episode of the show. However, she told Us Weekly in August 2022 that she wasn’t the only Selling the OC star who’d gotten a little too cozy with Stanaland.

“[It’s] very inappropriate. I mean, very hypocritical,” she said, referring to Stanaland’s dynamic with their costar Alex Hall. “I think it’s pretty obvious I never even touched the guy. Let alone sit on his lap, suck on his nose or get naked [like Polly Brindle’s skinny-dipping dare].”

Cardona added that she was “not the one [Brittany] should be worrying about.”

Stanaland and Snow announced in September 2022 that they were separating after more than two years of marriage. Snow filed for divorce in January 2023 and the exes finalized their split that July.

Snow spoke out about the divorce during a March 2024 appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, saying she was “grateful” for the reality show drama because “it was a neon f–king sign” of a red flag.

“I was not aware of a lot of things and I’ll say that,” she added. “So, I will say, what people think happened, happened.”

The actress emphasized that she “did not know what was going on” while Selling the OC was being filmed.

“They’ve taken up — and I’m collectively calling them all ‘they’ because I don’t know any of them except my ex-husband — they took up a lot of energy and emotion and time and real estate in my head,” she said of the show’s cast. “I don’t want to give them any more time and energy because then they would win and they would get what they wanted, which was getting my time and energy and attention.”

Christine Quinn and Christian Richard

Quinn and Richard’s marriage was still going strong when Quinn left Selling Sunset after season 5 in 2022. However, in March 2024, Richard was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly throwing a bag of glass at Quinn. The bag missed Quinn and hit the couple’s son, Christian, whom they welcomed in 2021.

Richard was arrested for a second time later that day for returning to Quinn’s home, thereby violating the restraining order obtained against him after his initial arrest. He has since been released from custody.

A source exclusively told Us at the time that Quinn was “planning on filing for divorce” in the wake of the incident.

Later that month, Richard hit back with a restraining order request of his own, claiming that the bag he threw was filled with rags and paper towels, not glass, and that he threw it at the wall, not Quinn. He also claimed that the fight started when the pair’s dogs urinated on some of his belongings.

Chelsea Lazkani and Jeff Lazkani

Chelsea, who joined the Selling Sunset cast for season 5 in 2022, filed for divorce from husband Jeff in March 2024 after seven years of marriage, citing “irreconcilable differences.” The estranged couple, who share son Maddox, born in 2019, and daughter Melia, born in 2020, met on Tinder in 2015.

Chelsea seemingly hinted at the split in February 2024 when she shared a carousel of Instagram photos with Jeff nowhere to be seen.

“Life has been kicking my ass recently, so here’s some photos from when it wasn’t xx,” she captioned the post.