How Netflix's Selling Sunset Star Feels Now About Having Posed For Playboy

heather rae young on netflix's selling sunset season 3

Netflix’s Selling Sunset will be heading into Season 3 at the subscription streamer, but it’s notable star Heather Rae Young was famous before she became one of the faces of the Netflix series. In fact, back in 2010 she posed in Playboy and has now revealed her feelings on her spread as well as the impact on her career.

Now a real estate agent and a reality star for popular streaming service Netflix, Heather Rae Young initially started out her Hollyweird career as a model, eventually becoming Playboy Magazine’s 2010 playmate. Although real estate may seem like an odder transition than reality TV the actress says the connections she made during her Playboy days have actually helped her entire career get to the Netflix place it is now. She told the magazine:

It changed my life for the better. I would never take it back. I believe everything happens for a reason. I really, truly do. If I hadn’t posed for Playboy, I wouldn’t have met the people who led me to where I am now. Playboy got me used to being in front of crowds and being good on camera.

Following her stint as a Playmate of the Month, Heather Rae Young ended up joining the Oppenheim Group, studying her "ass off" to become a real estate agent and ultimately passing the test. In the Netflix series she appears opposite Chrishell Stause, Christine Quinn, Jason and Brett Oppenheim, Maya Vander,  Mary Fitzgerald and others. A lot of her storylines happen to involve a mention of her famous boyfriend Tarek El Moussa, whom she met on a boat.

Heather Rae Young is not the only person to really grow a career after appearing in Playboy, joining the likes of Kendra Wilkinson, Anna Nicole Smith and Real Housewives of Orange County’s Jeana Keough (although Wilkinson was not a Playmate of the Month). She also told Playboy her job as an ambassador for the magazine ultimately prepared her for her Netflix career as well.

Meeting fans as a Playmate prepped me for the fans I have now, from the show. It made me realize a lot of celebrities don’t want to say 'hi' to fans or give them the time of day, but I realized through Playboy that these people may never meet a Playmate again. So I talk to everyone. I take photos with everyone. It has changed my life.

Even if you haven’t watched Selling Sunset, Heather Rae Young may be a familiar name to you, either from her previous Playboy work or her relationship with HGTV’s Tarek El Moussa, who was previously married to Christina Anstead and is popular for the series Flip or Flop.

Season 3 of the hit series has already been filmed. While Netflix currently hasn’t set a release date for the new episodes, the other two seasons can be binged to your heart’s content. Meanwhile, you can see what else is coming to Netflix with our upcoming what’s streaming schedule.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.