Selling Sunset star Heather Rae El Moussa says it’s ‘a blessing’ she wasn’t called to return to Netflix show

Netflix star says she found elements of the show ‘toxic’

Heather Rae El Moussa has spoken about her departure from the hit Netflix show Selling Sunset, claiming that her supposed exit from the franchise is “a blessing”.

The reality star and real estate agent was one of the founding castmates of the luxury property programme, which tracks the careers and personal lives of employees of Los Angeles brokerage The Oppenheim Group.

After being a part of significant storylines from the first season in 2019 and beyond, El Moussa took on a lessened role from season six when she became pregnant with her first child with her property investor husband, Tarek El Moussa.

Apart from a brief appearance at the start of season 7, which launched in November, the former model was not seen again due to her maternity leave. In March, she revealed that she had not been approached to appear in season 8.

In a new podcast interview, Heather and Tarek spoke more openly about her absence from Selling Sunset, and compared the experience to the one she has now on their joint TV show, The Flipping El Moussas.

“It was a blessing that I wasn’t asked to come back because I’m so much happier filming my show with Tarek,” she told the hosts of The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast.

“We’re co-producers on our show so we pick the hours. With Selling Sunset, I never knew when I was going to be filming. It was last minute, it took over my life, it was hard to do my real job – real estate. It was hard to do anything else.”

Heather Rae El Moussa in Selling Sunset (Netflix)

Heather noted that her experience on the programme evolved as the show got more popular, and named season 3 (2020) as a turning point.

“In the beginning, it was all fun, not crazy drama, we were all friends, any drama was just – it was simple,” she said.

“Then it just got worse and worse and worse, they started adding in more girls, it just became out of control, and I mean there’d be days I came home to him crying from the stress of filming.”

Tarek interjected that Heather was emotional “every day”.

“You film it, you go through it, it’s your life. And then you have to watch it, and then deal with all the stress again,” Heather continued.

Heather Rae El Moussa in Selling Sunset (Netflix)

“You have to hear from all the fans, and you get attacked for almost everything you do, because the fans are so vocal on social media.”

As well as stating that the show’s schedule had her working 12 to 14-hour days, Heather added that she found elements of the show “toxic”.

“You’re around a bunch of women that everyone wants to be stars on the show, you know, number one. And they’ll kind of do anything,” she explained.

The Independent has reached out to a representative from Netflix for comment.

In November, ahead of the launch of season 7, series star and real estate manager Jason Oppenheim spoke out about missing Heather in the workplace.

“I miss Heather being around when we’re filming, and she’s [living] in Newport Beach, so I’m not really seeing her as much in the LA office anymore,” he told People. “She’s just such a fun, easy-going personality to be around. So I think everyone misses Heather when she’s not here.”

Selling Sunset is streaming on Netflix now.