“Selling Sunset”'s Jason Oppenheim Says Chrishell Stause and Amanza Smith Are ‘Doing Much Better’ After Feud (Exclusive)
“I think that there's a mutual respect at the end of the day between the two of them,” the Oppenheim Group founder tells PEOPLE
Warning: This post contains spoilers from season 7 of Selling Sunset.
Chrishell Stause and Amanza Smith have a falling out in the new season of Selling Sunset — but the two friends have since moved on.
“I think they're doing much better now,” Jason Oppenheim tells PEOPLE. “I think that they both firmly believe in their positions, still. And so I don't know if they see eye to eye on those issues that people will see in the season, but I think they're handling it appropriately, considering.”
Tensions between Stause and Smith flare in season 7 of the Netflix series after Stause and pal Emma Hernan don’t show up to dinner during a trip to Cabo San Lucas, where the Oppenheim Group opened an office in December 2022.
After suggesting that they skipped the meal because Stause was uncomfortable around Marie-Lou Nurk, whom Oppenheim was dating at the time of filming, Smith leaves a heated video message for Stause, calling the pair's absence “a little ridiculous.”
“If it’s because of anything else other than maybe you had your leg severed off, I don’t see an excuse,” Smith tells Stause.
Smith explains to the group of agents that she was particularly frustrated with Stause since costar Mary Bonnet had made the effort to come with her husband, Romain Bonnet, despite having recently had a miscarriage.
The next day, Smith tells Mary, Romain, Chelsea Lazkani and Nicole Young that she heard back from Stause, who was “livid” — and fired Smith from a design project for Stause’s partner, Australian musician G Flip, which Smith says she put “hours of creative energy” into.
Stause later confides to Mary that she felt Smith had “an attitude” in the video, and made her look “even worse” in front of Nurk and Young, both of whom she clashed with throughout the season.
Stause and Smith later make amends during a lavish celebration for the O Group’s expanded L.A. office in the season’s final episode.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” Stause tells Smith. “I obviously love you.”
Stause then apologizes to Smith, explaining, “If I was overreactive to anything, I was hurt.”
Smith says she’s “never been that emotionally distraught over a friendship conflict,” to which Stause replies, “We can relate on that.”
“I think that there's a mutual respect at the end of the day between the two of them,” Oppenheim tells PEOPLE. “And I certainly hope that they end up continuing to be close friends. Because I love them both.”
Oppenheim says he privately listened to both women and offered advice, though he’s learned to “take a step back and try not to be the problem solver.”
Smith addressed their relationship on the podcast Whine Down with Jana Kramer in September, saying that while the drama carried on after filming wrapped, they’d buried the hatchet when Smith was in the hospital recovering from a severe spinal infection earlier this year.
“I love Chrishell,” Smith told Kramer. “She had been a really dear friend. When I was in the hospital, she reached out to me and it made me so emotional. In my head, I was like, ‘What the f--- are we even arguing about?’ And we’ve talked since and we’re good.”
Selling Sunset is streaming on Netflix.
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.