Chrishell Stause’s ‘Under Construction’ Book: Biggest Takeaways About Justin Hartley, ‘Selling Sunset’

Credit: Rob Latour/Shutterstock

Chrishell Stause’s ‘Under Construction’ Book: Biggest Takeaways About Justin Hartley, ‘Selling Sunset’

A time for reflection. From her headline-making divorce to her reality TV role, Chrishell Stause is getting candid in her new book, Under Construction: Because Living My Best Life Took a Little Work. “I started this process when we went into lockdown,” the 40-year-old Selling Sunset star told Forbes ahead of the memoir’s Tuesday, February 8, release. “There was nothing to do and I was kind of going through a lot at the time. A book deal was presented to me and it felt a little overwhelming, but I unknowingly had already started the process. It just felt nice to be able to tell the story in my way and give some context to some things that didn’t previously have much.” She continued: “Now that people constantly reach out asking me for advice and connecting with me about things we’ve both gone through, it did feel like I’m finally in a place where it feels like I can help people in a position where I lived through this. Failure is a part of life and if you don’t fail at life, you’re not going to succeed in life. Not everything is going to work out the way we planned or the way we had in our head or our ideal life - and sometimes, that’s for the best. I think that I’m definitely living that right now.” [jwplayer GAiTLgWe-zhNYySv2] The book tackles Stause’s childhood and journey into Hollywood, but she knows her love life is one of the topics that readers will be most intrigued by. The Days Of Our Lives alum was married to Justin Hartley from 2017 to 2021. On the Netflix series, fans watched Stause learn via text message that the This Is Us star filed for divorce in 2019. “I didn’t mind my love life being public because it was something I was so proud of,” she wrote in the book. “I always wanted to have a family, and at the time I thought I was with the love of my life. However, I never could have predicted how it all came crashing down so forcefully.” More recently, she dated her Selling Sunset costar and real estate boss Jason Oppenheim for several months, calling it quits over her desire to be a mother. “I feel like with life you’re constantly in a state of under construction. I just had the most successful relationship I’ve ever had, something I’m really proud of,” she told Forbes. “Even though we aren’t together, it’s really important to us to keep that friendship and to really just feel like we are each other’s biggest support group. It doesn’t always have to end in heartbreak. If you can recognize that you don’t have the same goals, that doesn’t mean that somebody is the bad guy. You can still love that person and support that person and want everything for them. It’ll just take a different path.” Under Construction is available now. Scroll through for the biggest revelations from the book:

Credit: Rob Latour/Shutterstock

Chrishell Stause’s ‘Under Construction’ Book: Biggest Takeaways About Justin Hartley, ‘Selling Sunset’

A time for reflection. From her headline-making divorce to her reality TV role, Chrishell Stause is getting candid in her new book, Under Construction: Because Living My Best Life Took a Little Work. “I started this process when we went into lockdown,” the 40-year-old Selling Sunset star told Forbes ahead of the memoir’s Tuesday, February 8, release. “There was nothing to do and I was kind of going through a lot at the time. A book deal was presented to me and it felt a little overwhelming, but I unknowingly had already started the process. It just felt nice to be able to tell the story in my way and give some context to some things that didn’t previously have much.” She continued: “Now that people constantly reach out asking me for advice and connecting with me about things we’ve both gone through, it did feel like I’m finally in a place where it feels like I can help people in a position where I lived through this. Failure is a part of life and if you don’t fail at life, you’re not going to succeed in life. Not everything is going to work out the way we planned or the way we had in our head or our ideal life - and sometimes, that’s for the best. I think that I’m definitely living that right now.” [jwplayer GAiTLgWe-zhNYySv2] The book tackles Stause’s childhood and journey into Hollywood, but she knows her love life is one of the topics that readers will be most intrigued by. The Days Of Our Lives alum was married to Justin Hartley from 2017 to 2021. On the Netflix series, fans watched Stause learn via text message that the This Is Us star filed for divorce in 2019. “I didn’t mind my love life being public because it was something I was so proud of,” she wrote in the book. “I always wanted to have a family, and at the time I thought I was with the love of my life. However, I never could have predicted how it all came crashing down so forcefully.” More recently, she dated her Selling Sunset costar and real estate boss Jason Oppenheim for several months, calling it quits over her desire to be a mother. “I feel like with life you’re constantly in a state of under construction. I just had the most successful relationship I’ve ever had, something I’m really proud of,” she told Forbes. “Even though we aren’t together, it’s really important to us to keep that friendship and to really just feel like we are each other’s biggest support group. It doesn’t always have to end in heartbreak. If you can recognize that you don’t have the same goals, that doesn’t mean that somebody is the bad guy. You can still love that person and support that person and want everything for them. It’ll just take a different path.” Under Construction is available now. Scroll through for the biggest revelations from the book:

Credit: Christy Radecic/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Chrishell’s Mom Didn’t Like Justin

While reflecting on her mother’s 2020 cancer battle, she revealed that her mom wasn’t a big fan of her ex-husband. “I’m not sure if she did it on purpose or as a dig, but she always called him Jacob,” Stause wrote. When her sister asked whether Hartley reached out after their mom’s July 2020 death, Stause recalled, “I told her that he hadn’t and that I wasn’t really expecting him to, but that it was OK because mom never liked Jacob anyway. So my mom kept us laughing, even after she was gone.”

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Justin’s Charity Commitment for ‘Selling Sunset’

Fans may recall Stause offering a coffee date with Hartley as an auction item for a season 3 story line on Selling Sunset. “I hope that person got their coffee date, because to be honest I have no idea how that panned out,” she wrote, noting that Hartley sent her the divorce text one day after the charity event. “To that person, if you never got that coffee date, hit me up.”

Credit: Netflix

Almost Quitting ‘Selling Sunset’ Over Divorce

Stause admitted that she “no longer knew who I was without” Hartley and feared that producers would exploit her pain on the reality show. While she debated walking away, she didn’t want to lose her second career, which she worked so hard for. “I still wonder why he wouldn’t have wanted to separate in private and wait to file for divorce a month later when Selling Sunset would be finished filming, but what’s done is done,” she wrote.

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Losing Out on Being the ’Bachelorette’

Stause reflected on ABC pulling her announcement as the new Bachelorette in 2008 after DeAnna Pappas’ appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show ahead of production on season 4.

“I was definitely bummed,” she wrote. “Looking back now, I can see that everything happens for a reason because for so many years my love life wasn’t the main topic of conversation, and if I had done The Bachelorette, my love life would have been THE topic of conversation.”

In the same chapter, Stause revealed she was cast in the Disney+ Cheaper by the Dozen remake alongside Zach Braff and Gabrielle Union but found out three days later that she lost the role to someone else.

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Her Matthew Morrison Shade

During season 1 of Selling Sunset, Stause made headlines for joking that she’d “kill myself” if she ended up with the guy she dated when she was 25. In the book, the real estate agent confirmed that she was talking about ex-fiancé Matthew Morrison.

“We’ve run into each other a few times over the years and even though I sounded a little angry on Selling Sunset, it’s always cordial,” she wrote. “Looking back I know it never would have worked out, and we were so young and we each other still had a lot to learn.”

Credit: Netflix

Inside the Oppenheim Group When Cameras Are Down

Stause admitted that the “vibe” at the Oppenheim Group is different when the Netflix cameras aren’t rolling, writing that they are “more casual” on days without filming. “We might wear jeans or flats, and our hair and makeup aren’t dialed up to a ten,” she wrote. “When the cameras roll, the drama goes tend to heat up. No one wants to watch us quietly sign contracts for an hour. … Our office is known for being very dog friendly, and sometimes those bitches are a lot nicer than we are.”

Credit: Netflix

Her Feud With Christine Quinn

Stause wrote that Quinn tried to “bond” with her when they first met, but she quickly questioned her motives, alleging that Quinn would often gossip about their coworkers. “We had a few on (and off) screen fights, and at first it was tough for me to keep my cool,” she wrote, recalling leaving a season 1 party because she was “so shocked” by the “level of antagonism.”

The soap star claimed that the fight between the two women over Stause’s past comments about Mary Fitzgerald and Romain Bonnet lasted over an hour even though it aired for a few minutes. “After filming season 1, Christine and I were left on horrible terms. We didn’t speak at all, for months,” she wrote, noting that she put up a “healthy wall” to be able to film with her again. When Stause turned down an invitation to Quinn’s engagement party, however, she quickly ended up back on her bad side and the pair’s friendship never truly recovered.

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The Divorce

Stause explained that she “fell hard and fast” for Hartley and “thought that he hung the moon.” She wrote, “When I got married, I imagined being eighty years old on a porch with my husband someday, holding wrinkly hands and laughing about an inside joke.” When it came to recovering from their divorce, Stause wrote that she turned to therapy and self-reflection. “Part of auditing is realizing that there are two people in a relationship and owning your part in what went wrong,” she said. “Being the victim and staying bitter won’t help you grow and move on. Getting some distance from a relationship that you think is good for you allows you to see the cracks in the foundation.”

She concluded: “Although I wouldn’t have handled the breakup in the way he did, I would have wasted a lot of time trying to fix something that was irreparably broken if we’d stayed together."

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Falling for ‘Love Bombers’

“When someone is in love, it’s hard to convince that person that the relationship isn’t right,” she wrote. “Even if he’s waving red flags like a bullfighter to everyone around you, you’re the girl striding right up to him, oblivious to any impending danger. You’re too distracted and in your own world to listen.”

Stause admitted that she has a “massive blind spot” for red flags and gets caught up in the romance. Without naming names, she compared her first post-split romance with Keo Motsepe to Hartley.

“I did fall for another love bomber not long after my divorce, and we were quickly heading toward real commitment,” she wrote. “He was a tall dancer, and he started off as this amazing, positive, generous guy. I took him home for Christmas to meet my family. After the honeymoon phase, though, things took a turn. This time, instead of making excuses for his behavior, I actually opened my eyes, pushed past the smoke and mirrors, and saw the truth.”

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Dating Jason

Stause briefly touched on how she and her Selling Sunset boss went from coworkers to dating in the book, which was written before their December 2021 split. She explained that they were nearly caught for weeks before going public via Instagram. “We got tired of hiding like two kids smoking in the bathroom, so we posted about it ourselves,” she wrote. “One night when we were out, we kissed. It could’ve ended up with us laughing and saying What are we thinking? Instead, it kicked off my first relationship where I felt like I could be 100 percent myself, with my best friend.”

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

‘DWTS’ Challenges

Stause has been open about freezing her eggs, explaining in the book that she was in the middle of the process when she started Dancing With the Stars in 2020. She recalled the first week being “the hardest” as she felt like “I had a basketball in my stomach.” She called her tango to “Raise Your Glass” by Pink “frustrating” — it’s “not a freaking tango song” — and said partner Gleb Savchenko thought they would be eliminated first. Stause, however, felt comfortable as an underdog and was ultimately the seventh celebrity eliminated.