‘Selling Sunset’ drama: Why did Justin Hartley and his wife divorce?

This Is Us star, Justin Hartley, filed for divorce from Selling Sunset star, Chrishell Stause, in November, 2019. Although officially together for six years, the celebrity couple split after just two years of marriage. In the newest season of Selling Sunset, Stause spills the beans about the separation. Allegedly, Justin Hartley is not happy his ex-wife is airing their dirty laundry on screen.  

Indeed, Stause is not holding back in front of the camera. She says Hartley was the one who actually filed for divorce, while Stause claims she was shocked by the revelation. According to her, the news was delivered to Stause through a text message Hartley sent her as he completed filing the paperwork. 

So what happened, and why exactly did they separate? Stause openly discusses the relationship and the separation through Selling Sunset and alludes repeatedly that Hartley changed considerably after his fame from This is Us. These suggestions have allegedly angered Hartley, who claims such allegations are completely false. 

On the day in question, Chrishell Stause claims that she was unaware that there were issues that could potentially be worthy of divorce. “We were totally fine that day,” Stause says on Selling Sunset. The text message informing her that Hartley had, in fact, filed for divorce came in as Stause was leaving for work. She left the house soon after, took her dog, and didn’t go back. 

During her confessions about the relationship breakdown on Selling Sunset, Stause claims that Hartley’s “go-to” response to any kind of conflict was to leave. Stause claims this was something that bothered her a lot, and is the type of person that believes issues need to be discussed and talked through. 

Despite being the one to file for divorce, Hartley made an attempt to make the separation appear amicable, at least in public. Two weeks after he filed the paperwork, he even posted a sweet birthday message to Stause on social media, wishing her well in the future. This may have all been for the camera’s, however, as Stause’s co-stars say she was absolutely crushed & devastated by the split. 

Stause has told the media that she is still madly in love with her ex-husband. She believes that if they had worked on their issues in private, the divorce could have been avoided. Despite these comments, Stause continued to talk about the breakdown of her relationship on camera in Selling Sunset. 

While Stause doesn’t actually specify what exactly caused the breakdown of the relationship on the show, Hartley is allegedly angered by the fact that his ex-wife is even talking about it on camera at all. Hartley himself has not released any kind of official statement explaining what went wrong either. 

Despite his negative emotions about the  fact that his business was being aired on-screen, Hartley told Entertainment Tonight in July, 2020 that he is now much happier.“I don’t have anything on my mind. I treat people the way I want to be treated and I have lovely friends who love me and I love them. And I’ve got this wonderful daughter, and I’ve got a great family, and I am a very, very lucky, lucky individual.”