Everything we know about Chrishell Stause’s parents

Chrishell Stause is the super-agent behind the success of the Netflix reality show Selling Sunset. Stause knows the value of a home, having spent some of her younger years without a home. Chrishell has embraced the celebrity life as she openly shares her personal life and rarely steps away from the limelight. 

In October 2021, Stause appeared on Dancing with the Stars, and before delivering her stunning performance, she dedicated it to her parents. “I know my parents are with me,” Chrishell said. “My mom’s name was Ranae Stause and my dad’s name was Jeff Stause. This dance is for them.”

Chrishell’s dad passed away in April 2019 after a long battle with cancer

Chrishell Stause was born on 21st July 1981 in Draffenville, Kentucky, to Jeff and Ranea Stause. The circumstances of her birth gave her the name Chrishell. A ‘Shell’ attendant named ‘Chris’ helped deliver her, hence the name Chrishell. 

Stause had shared little about her parents until her father passed away due to lung cancer in April 2019. Jeff was Chrishell’s adoptive father. Chrishell never met her biological father, so she referred to Jeff as her dad. Stause’s biological dad was half-Spanish and half-Japanese.

Chrishell shared a touching tribute to her deceased father via Instagram. She wrote: “You are at peace now, and ever the Catholic man at heart, I think you chose Easter for a reason. I grew up in an unconventional family and my dad was a drummer-the heartbeat of the music. Today we lost the heartbeat of our family but I am happy knowing he took his music to heaven.”

Chrishell’s mom showed promise of recovery before she passed away due to cancer

About a year after Jeff’s death, Ranae received a lung cancer diagnosis. It was on World Cancer Day in 2020 that Ranae learned that she had a maximum of two months to live. 

“I can’t make sense of what life is teaching me yet, but my heart is with every person fighting this horrible disease and every person that it robbed a loved one from,” Chrishell wrote on Instagram

Stause later updated her post, writing that another doctor had offered a promising diagnosis. She added that Ranae had responded well to radiation and chemotherapy. “The results of her new round of tests & updated prognosis is much better than before and she is a fighter,” Stause added. 

The coronavirus pandemic prevented Chrishell from seeing her mom. However, she told Us Weekly that the pair grew closer thanks to frequent phone calls. “In the strangest turn of events, something that by design is keeping us apart has actually made us closer than ever,” she said.

Like many cancer patients, Ranae lost her hair due to the treatment. Chrishell solved the situation by lending Ranae some of her wigs. 

Sadly, Chrishell’s mom passed away in July 2020. Stause wrote that she found solace in the fact that death reunited her mother and father:

“Feeling just about every emotion, but I find comfort knowing Dad is up there taking care of you and showing you the ropes like only he could. Absolutely heartbreaking watching you take your last labored breath, but there is a peace knowing you two are together again, free from the pain that plagued your time here.”

Her parents’ death compounded the pain of splitting from her ex-husband Justin Hartley

Chrishell Stause had a tough late 2019 and whole of 2020. In late 2019, her dad passed away, and her ex-husband, Justin Hartley, initiated the couple’s divorce. 

In 2020, Chrishell learned of her mother’s diagnosis just as she was dealing with the divorce. Her mother’s death compounded the struggles of a difficult 2020. 

Stause told People that splitting from Hartley hurt, but losing her parents hurt infinitely more. “It’s an almost ungrievable loss,” she said. “The other loss, you can slowly recover and get over. This one just feels like I’m adapting, as opposed to getting over it.”

Chrishell turned to family when the pain became too much to bear. She left LA to stay with her oldest sister, Shonda, in St. Louis. In a confessional, she said that part of her pain stemmed from the fact that her marriage didn’t last as long as her sisters’ marriage. Shonda is married with three kids. Chrishell said

“They’ve been married so long and have a beautiful family. I just think it’s really hard to be around because that’s what I really wanted and that’s what I’m realizing I don’t have. But it helps me be inspired to know that it might be out there, it just might take a different path than what I was thinking.”