christine quinn selling sunset
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Selling Sunset’s Christine Quinn Gets Personal

“I’d rather be a villain than a victim”

Christine Quinn is the reality TV candy this pandemic needed. The model slash actress turned high-rolling realtor has provided some frothy relief in these uncertain times, becoming one of the most talked about people on television in the process (if Netflix qualifies as television, which it should because who has cable?). On Selling Sunset, she steals the show with meme-able quips (“That bitch should own a Sunglass Hut because she’s so shady”—inspired!) and a parade of delectably outrageous looks (think: head-to-toe Balenciaga, lots of neon green and a 4-foot ponytail complete with metal chains). 

The woman is extra. An actual zebra grazed in the background of her engagement party and a flurry of snowflakes fell inside the church as she walked down the aisle in a black ball gown. But she is also refreshingly frank. She has no qualms talking about her surgically enhanced chest, filler-plumped pout or Botoxed forehead, a welcome change from the “effortless” veneer so many try to cultivate. “They’re such liars!” she exclaims. “I hate that narrative. It has to change because we all know we don’t wake up like this, and I’m open about it.”

 

She’s open because she knows first-hand what maintaining the charade can lead to. Before cameras started following her to brunches and brokers’ opens, Quinn was “just living [her] life,” she says. She didn’t even have social media. “When I joined [Instagram], I remember looking at all these girls and thinking, ‘Gosh, they’re so freaking beautiful’ and ‘Why don’t I look like this?’ And I started doubting myself and feeling like shit.” 

“I want to encourage people to feel confident in the way that they look and realize that the stuff that you’re seeing in tabloids, in media, in television, it takes me four hours to look that cheap—it’s not easy!”

The experience made her vow to never make anyone who follows her feel that way. “That’s why I talk about the things that I do and I say, ‘Yeah, I have plastic surgery. I got this done. Spray tan, this, that, makeup.’ I want people to know because I want to encourage people to feel confident in the way that they look and realize that the stuff that you’re seeing in tabloids, in media, in television, it takes me four hours to look that cheap—it’s not easy!”

At the moment, the 31-year-old is in the thrust of a European whirlwind. She Zooms in from the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat in the south of France to promote Shoppers Drug Mart’s For the Love of Beauty event. (She shared her favourite beauty tips during a live Beauty Mingle on the retailer’s Instagram.)

A few days ago, she was yachting around Croatia, as captured by the sunny squares on her Instagram (she’s now followed by 1.2 million people). The Adriatic Sea sparkles as she strikes a pose in an Off-White one-piece or Gucci coverup, lashes aflutter and lips slicked in gloss. “It’s called Photoshop,” she says with a laugh. “I don’t have a glam squad. I just bring tons of products. I love to play around.”

 

Although her extravagant coifs are the work of professionals, Quinn, who describes herself as “really, really artistic,” does her own makeup, including when she’s filming the show. “Everyone does such heavy makeup and I hate it,” she explains. “So for me, I was like, ‘How can I wear the least amount of makeup and make it look the most amazing as possible?’ I’ve perfected that over the years and I really love it.”

“I can dress like a stripper and do my job and be a boss and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Her tricks include skipping foundation in favour of Clinique concealer patted under her eyes, around her nose and on her forehead and chin with the help of a BeautyBlender. Then comes a sweep of bronzer in the hollow of her cheeks. “That’s how it looks like you have no makeup on, because everyone puts heavy, heavy foundation on and that’s not the way to do it.”

She might prefer a subtle base, but her ensembles are anything but. She tried to tone down her style in season one, slipping on blazers “to be taken seriously,” but she didn’t feel like herself. “I was like, ‘Why am I doing this?’ I’m still the same person. I can dress like a stripper and do my job and be a boss and there’s nothing wrong with that. I found out as long as you’re good at your job, no one cares about any of that stuff.”

 

And good at her job she certainly seems to be, ringing in six-figure commissions and wowing the Oppenheim bros with her splashy marketing tactics (burgers and Botox, anyone?). She even stands up to scary Adnan, an elusive seller dead-set on overpricing his mansion. “I’m not afraid of anyone,” she says.

But Quinn wasn’t always this confident. As she tearfully told Chrishell in season one (Didn’t it look like they would become besties? Boy, did that take a turn), “I was the nerd in high school. Everyone made fun of me. Everyone said I would go nowhere in life.” She’s now on a hit show and hints at having her own spinoff soon (“I wish I could talk about it,” she says), things she never dreamed she’d be doing.

“I come from a really, really small town,” she says. “Where I lived, people would ride horses to the grocery store. If I was an 8-year-old, 10-year-old version of me and I was like, ‘I’m going to be on TV,’ it wouldn’t even be feasible in my mind. So I never let anyone tell me no, ever.” That’s her takeaway from all this, she says. Keep pushing and don’t take no for an answer. “If you got no, then you asked the wrong person.”

While some commend her relentlessness, others have cast her as the villain of the show, a label she has no problem bearing. “I love all the villains in Disney movies—they’re some of my favourite characters,” she says, admiring their strength and determination.

“I would much rather be that than a victim,”she continues. (I can’t help feeling like she’s throwing shade at Chrishell, whom she recently called a victim. Thoughts?) “If I speak my mind and offend people sometimes and that makes me a villain, so be it. I love it and wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Ooh, that spinoff is going to be so good.

 
 
 

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