EXCLUSIVE Selling Sunset star Amanza Smith reveals how the Netflix cast really feel about boss Jason Oppenheim's string of younger women

Daily Mail​

25-04-2025

Selling Sunset star Amanza Smith has revealed how the Netflix cast really feel about boss Jason Oppenheim romancing a string of younger women.
The real estate agent told MailOnline that she and her co-stars, which include fellow Oppenheim employees Chrishell Stause, Mary Fitzgerald, and Nicole Young, bear no judgment towards Jason, 48, whom they have all previously dated.
In an exclusive interview, Amanza teased the new season of Selling Sunset, based on the behind-the-scenes drama at LA brokerage The Oppenheim Group, will be even more explosive than the latest instalment – and she doesn't shy away from the action.
Since the end of series eight, which featured storylines like the breakdown of Chelsea Lazkani 's marriage, Jason has entered a new relationship with model Jessica Vargas, who's also hired at the real estate agency.
The multimillionaire split from 27-year-old model Marie-Lou Nurk in 2023 and has since had flings with the likes of TikToker Danika Tanya and pro tennis player Genie Bouchard, 31.
But Amanza insists that the stars of Selling Sunset support Jason's active dating life and says the property tycoon has 'earned' his right to romance whoever he chooses.
She said: 'Jason is doing amazing and has earned his right to date whoever he wants. He's the hardest working man that I know and a total charmer.
'Look, I dated Jason, that came out in the reunion, everybody's dated Jason. He's a really great guy.
'He has a new girlfriend now called Jessica and we all absolutely adore her. She is beautiful and really intelligent and a great human.
'He's particular, he always has beautiful young girlfriends, but they're not dummies, he's got a really good sense of taste for the women that he dates. We just cheer him on. Good for him.'
The mother-of-two, 48, added that the cast would be hypocritical if they judged Jason for dating younger women when Chrishell is married to Australian singer G Flip, 31, who is 12 years her junior.
She added: 'Nobody is telling anybody else in the office or watching the age of who someone else is dating. Chrishell's partner is a lot younger than she is, and everybody is cool with that.'
The new series of Selling Sunset, which is set for release later this year, will see the return of Bre Tiesi, who shares two-year-old son Legendary with Nick Cannon.
Last season, Bre broke the news that she suspected Chelsea's ex-Jeff Lazkani, with whom she shares two children, had been cheating on her, after being told vital information by a friend.
Chelsea, who previously clashed with Bre over her being in an open relationship with Nick, known for having 12 children with six different women, has since divorced her husband and her life as a single woman will be revealed on the programme.
But Amanza has teased that the upcoming episodes will expose a brand-new feud between Chelsea and Mary.
She said: 'Last season was Chelsea's divorce, which was a big one.
'This series I am not directly involved in so much of it, even more so than usual I have really stayed clear.
'But there is just as much drama, I don't feel it as much as Mary, who I know is really going through it, she and Chelsea have some beef, Bre with everyone, Nicole with the girls, it's just a lot of the same and then a little bit more...'
And Amanza is nervously anticipating the reveal of an explosive scene between her and an unnamed co-star after she admitted to being 'triggered' and losing her 's***' during filming.
She said: 'I won't say exactly what happens or with who, but I get really passionate and speak very clearly about something that was said by one of the girls.
'It's a very passionate scene and I was triggered by a moment I didn't agree with, and I let them have it, which is something you don't see a lot.
'I lost my s*** and everyone saw me lose my s***. I don't know how they're going to edit it, if it comes across like I lose my s*** or if I'm just passionate. I don't know what it's going to look like but in the moment, I was very heated, and it was a big deal.'
Feuds on the show have almost led fan favourite Chrishell to quit after the animosity between her and rival Nicole reached an all-time high.
Revealing that she was paid more money to stay, the former soap actress confirmed she will be back for series nine, which Amanza says is a relief because Selling Sunset wouldn't be the same without her.
Amanza said: 'I would hope that nobody in the cast ever steps back completely because it takes all of us to make the show what it is.
'We need everyone as much as a headache that it can be, it's a team and everybody has their different fans and sides they pull from.
'Personally, I love Chrishell. She and I did have our little fallout a couple of seasons ago but we're back and we're as close as ever and I adore her.
'I would hope that she would never step away from the show completely. But who knows, everybody's lives are going in their own direction and maybe she will, but I truly hope not. There's no Selling Sunset without each of the OGs and Chrishell is one of those.'
Amanza, whose new career as a contemporary artist has grown out of her flair for property and interior design, says painting is the only way she can relax after filming intense scenes on the show.
The TV personality, who is a single mother after obtaining full custody of her two children Braker and Noah, 'almost died' in 2023 following her diagnosis with a life-threatening bone infection.
After undergoing two spinal surgeries and spending a month in hospital, Amanza says the post-traumatic stress still impacts her daily life.
But the star's creativity has given her an outlet to overcome her anxiety, which she says on her worst days caused panic attacks and stopped her from being able to leave the house.
She said: 'It was a scary time, I almost died. It was pretty traumatic.
'It took me six months to realise exactly what had happened and how severe everything was I went through but that's all in the past and I'm really grateful I didn't die and to have all these opportunities.
'I have a really busy mind, and I have ADHD and anxiety, sometimes it is debilitating.
'There have been days on set where I've had so much anxiety around what's been going on and I really have had a hard time with it.
'I've had panic attacks to the point where I couldn't leave my house. It has gotten worse since I got out of the hospital, I don't know if it has anything to do with everything that's happened but the trauma that my body went through, it's got increasingly worse.
'There have been times when I have been due at a red-carpet event, and I just went into my studio to paint for five minutes to chill myself out dressed in an evening gown, but I had to do that.'
On Thursday evening, Amanza celebrated the launch of her first European solo exhibition, 404 Humanity Not Found, at London's Grove Gallery.
She began painting as a therapeutic exercise but after a client purchased one of her artworks for thousands of dollars, Amanza turned her 'medicine' into a collection of extraordinary pieces.
Amanza explained: 'I have thousands of thoughts running through my head whether that's what I have to do for the day or the week or the month, for myself, the kids, where I am supposed to be, my brain is always constantly busy but when I paint it's like meditation, it's like medicine to me and it's the only thing that calms my brain.
'When you look at my paintings, they're really busy and I think it's just what's inside my head coming out on canvas, which is a little bit scary but it's very therapeutic.
'I wasn't able to really start on this collection until we finished season nine of Selling Sunset because it was too hard to snap out of that mode.
'I have always been creative and enjoyed design and aesthetic, but I never dreamed of being a professional or a contemporary fine artist.
'It fell onto my lap after I got out of the hospital. I was painting therapeutically and a woman reached out and she asked me to be a part of her gallery exhibit and after that it blew up.
'I had one exhibit and sold my first painting for a large amount of money and its one of those dreams I never knew was a dream until it started happening. Now it makes so much sense.'
Amanza, who also launches her collection of paintings at Grove Gallery Palma in Mallorca next week, hopes to be successful in Europe so she can move to the UK on a semi-permanent basis.
And a potential move to London isn't because she loves the grey weather, but Amanza admits she finds British men, who regularly appear on her Raya dating profile, attractive.
She said: 'I am pretty single right now. I am open to meeting somebody. I have been single for a minute. When I got out of the hospital I was dating somebody but that was a short-lived thing. I was highly medicated, and I don't know what happened there, I made a decision which wasn't so wise.
'I have been focused on my artwork because it's a new career. My plan is to sell so many paintings in the UK that they want me here every three months and I could just be international.
'I do like British guys. On my Raya profile it's always British guys or someone from Spain or Italy, just somewhere else not Los Angeles. Maybe I will meet someone while I'm in London or they will come to my exhibition.'