When it comes to celebrity relationships, there is nothing quite like those that come from our favourite reality TV shows. Now, Selling Sunset stars Jason Oppenheim and Chrishell Stause are front and centre once again, with the former looking back on their breakup.
In an interview with Us Weekly, Jason reflected on their split and shared how they experienced “difficult” ups and downs that came with moving on separately.
“I think that I made the right decision for myself, but also I think it’s just extremely difficult,” Jason told the publication, adding, “I love her still. I always will. She’s a great woman so there’s just a lot of loss there”.
Jason went onto explain how he still felt “a bit raw still” after parting ways with Chrishell late last year, while filming the highly-anticipated season five.
“It’s far more difficult than I thought and it’s gonna take a lot longer than I thought,” he continued. “It doesn’t help that I have to rewatch it and then go to a reunion and talk about it. It’s gonna be a tough few weeks ahead.”
Fans of Selling Sunset first met Jason and Chrishell in the show’s debut season in 2019. Two years later, the duo shocked the world when announcing their relationship status while on a holiday to Greece in between seasons.
Chrishell, a former soap star, recently opened up about why she chose to take their relationship public, after revealing that they’d been quietly dating for two months already.
“I didn’t want people to think it was a mistake or they’d ‘caught us’ doing something,” she told Cosmopolitan UK in November 2021. “I wanted to be able to hold my boyfriend’s hand at dinner.”
Of course, there were “added pressures” for both Chrishell and Jason since their romance began to be filmed for the show’s fifth season.
“I think it’s nice to kind of start a relationship in the way that normal relationships kind of grow and progress,” she told Us Weekly that same month, adding, “and that’s just between two people”.
But only one month later, the couple announced that they were going their separate ways, with Jason revealing that they “have different wants regarding a family”.
“While Chrishell and I are no longer together, we remain best friends we will always love and support one another. She was the most amazing girlfriend I’ve ever had, and it was the happiest and most fulfilling relationship of my life,” he wrote on Instagram in December 2021.
“Chrishell is an exceptional human being and loving her and having her in my life is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”
As for Chrishell, she also looked back at the “incredible relationship” that she and Jason shared.
“Jason was and is my best friend, and other than our ideas for family ultimately not being aligned, the amount of respect and love we have for each other will not change going forward,” she wrote on Instagram at the time.
“Although my initial reaction to a private situation was to not speak on it, sometimes it’s easier to just live transparently because we only get one chance at this life. I very much hope to one day have a family and decisions I make at this point are with that goal in mind. Thank you for the kindness and support to those that understand.”
As for what Jason thinks of their relationship with season five on the horizon, well, he revealed that their connection helped to shape his future.
“Chrisell has influenced me, shown me happiness, love and what it’s like to be with someone that you have so much respect for,” he told Us Weekly. “If there was really anything that was truly exceptional about our relationship, it was the calm, the communication and just the ease.”
“Chrishell, I think it’s fair to say is a game changer and an eye-opener. She definitely showed me a lot of things about how a relationship should be.”
Ready to dive deep into Jason and Chrishell’s relationship? You can watch season five of Selling Sunset on Netflix from April 22 by logging in or signing up here.
