Chrishell Stause was homeless before Selling Sunset and used to live in a trailer park

Chrishell has become one of our faves on Selling Sunset, but makes it no secret that her life before the show was very different to how she lives now. She’s opened up about homelessness when she was younger, and how it has affected the way she lives her life now.

In season four of Selling Sunset, Chrishell brought her first home, which is a $3.3million mansion in the Hollywood Hills – but that’s a million miles away from where she was before, whilst growing up. Speaking to Page Six, Chrishell said she was “homeless a few times in my life and it was really hard growing up, but now I’m super grateful about everything.” She said that her childhood has meant she’s “still really cheap!”

Chrishell was born in Draffenville, Kentucky, and was homeless a few times at different ages growing up, with the longest stint being while she was in the seventh grade. She was also homeless for “quite a bit” in the tenth grade. “As you can imagine, as a high schooler it wasn’t the coolest thing,” she told Page Six. “It was just really hard to live the lie at school and make sure no one knows and being really embarrassed about it. Even talking about it now I start to sweat.”

She continued: “I definitely relate to any kid who has lived without running water or electricity or having to be the smelly kid going to school because you don’t have the resources. It’s hard. I really relate to them and I want to help them as much as possible. It’s a unique situation that you’ll never forget where you came from.”

Her earlier life has affected her now, and Chrishell said she still finds herself “doing the most ridiculous things” like reusing eye makeup remover pads because she “only used half of it”. She said her ex-husband, This Is Us star Justin Hartley, would ask why there was a dirty one in the packet. “It sounds embarrassing to say out loud, but I didn’t even think twice about it — it does sound gross! I have to reevaluate,” she said.

Later in her life, Chrishell was living in a trailer park. Someone on social media tried to use this as a derogatory insult to her, and Chrishell replied: “I am from a trailer park. In fact, when I lived in a trailer park, that meant we were doing better than usual. I got mocked my whole life for that – now I stand proud for all the kids that do the best with what they are dealt.”

There’s been a bit of gossip about Chrishell and her name over the years. Chrishell was born Terrina Chrishell Stause, but is more commonly known by her middle name Chrishell, which originated from the day of her birth. It was rumoured her mother was in labor at a Shell station, and “Chris”, an attendant, helped deliver her.

But, Chrishell has since clarified and said it didn’t quite happen in a gas station. Her mother was actually getting help with her car and the attendant was called Chris and he did work at a Shell station – the birth just didn’t actually end up happening there. An ambulance came and Chrishell was delivered in hospital. Chris just helped keep Chrishell’s mother calm when she realised she had gone into labor.

Chrishell earned herself a degree in Theater from Murray State University in Kentucky back in 2003. Before joining Selling Sunset, Chrishell was a famous soap actress. One of her best known roles is as Amanda Dillon in the soap opera All My Children from 2005 to 2011 and as Jordan Ridgeway on Days of Our Lives.

Selling Sunset is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Wait, so did Emma from Selling Sunset actually qualify for the Olympics as a swimmer?

• Luke Newton says he was ‘living on a mate’s sofa’ before he got the role in Bridgerton

• A rundown of everything that happened in Chrishell Stause and Jason Oppenheim’s relationship