Season three of the Netflix reality series Selling Sunset is here, and this season’s drama continues to swirl around the bombshell news of Chrishell Stause’s divorce from This Is Us star Justin Hartley. As the story behind their sudden split unfolds on the show, Selling Sunset fans are taking out their anger on the actor online, but his other ex-wife has something important to say.
Lindsay Korman-Hartley defended her ex in a new Instagram post, asserting that Hartley is not only a good friend but also a good man in general.
"Today, I appreciate my ex Justin for not only being the exemplification of a solid man, but for being my dear friend and a devoted father to our daughter," the soap opera actress wrote. "No matter what conflicts Justin and I had in the past, I appreciate what we have today, and I am thankful for the family that we have built."
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The usual activities of the Oppenheim Group ground to a halt when the office learned via TMZ alert that Hartley had filed for divorce seemingly out of the blue. The realtors were confused — their co-worker and friend had been all smiles while talking about her marriage just the day before — but no one was as shocked as Stause herself.
“I thought we were fine,” Stause revealed tearfully on the show. “We had a fight that morning but didn’t have a chance to talk things through. And before we had a chance to figure anything out, he filed.”
In a heartbreaking conversation with Mary Fitzgerald, Stause also shared that Hartley had only give her a 45-minute notice about the filing via text (!) before the news broke to the rest of the world.
Without appearing on the show one time, Hartley had made himself the official big bad of Selling Sunset, surpassing even the Oppenheim Group's resident asshole Davina Portatz — a truly spectacular feat considering how terrible Portratz has been every season. Fans were furious at the disturbing admission and wasted no time lambasting the actor online.
Imagine your partner of 6 years randomly telling you via text that he's filed for divorce and then cuts off all communication with you.... Justin Hartley, you're not seeing those pearly gates 😒
— rach (@ayodayas) August 8, 2020
Good morning to everyone except Justin Hartley. #sellingsunset
— 👽 (@daddymils_) August 7, 2020
Me and my crew after we run up on Justin Hartley pic.twitter.com/XjDAZgOpjf
— Ira Madison III (@ira) August 8, 2020
We will probably never find out Hartley's side of the story, but there is one person ready to go to bat for him amidst the Selling Sunset firestorm nonetheless: his first ex-wife.
The exes, who began dating while they starred on the NBC soap opera Passions, got married in 2004. The marriage ended in 2012, with Korman-Hartley citing "irreconcilable differences." However, things have apparently smoothed over between the stars since their divorce; they are currently sharing custody of their 16-year-old daughter Isabella.
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Korman-Hartley's message also kindly pointed out that Selling Sunset fans don't actually know her ex-husband in real life; our knowledge of him is limited strictly to television and social media.
"We derive our own opinion of people by experiencing life and time together," she continued. "And we do our best to hold dear the ones that maintain consistent kindness, love, and generosity."
Okay, so that makes one for Team Justin.