The Untold Truth Of Selling Sunset's Oppenheim Twins
One would assume that two hugely successful, handsome, and bald identical twins would be the stars of any show. For Jason and Brett Oppenheim, that is not the case. The owners of the Oppenheim Group are largely overshadowed by the drama and screen time of their attractive employees on the Netflix series Selling Sunset. They may not be the stars, but we're curious how these two managed to set up a multi-million dollar business and make selling real estate so much fun to watch.
Jason and Brett Oppenheim appear to be calm and sensible businessmen in the Netflix series, but this wasn't always the case. Growing up, they were admittedly difficult children to raise. Jason says, "Brett and I were incorrigible; very difficult to raise as we were intelligent, but argumentative and had huge antipathy towards authority" (via Spin1038). He goes on in further detail, saying, "We went to seven different high schools and boarding schools, and were either expelled or suspended from five of them." The brothers' love for each other was there even during the turbulent times. When Jason recalls a time when Bret was being arrested for fighting, he admits, "I made sure the officer arrested me too so that he would not be in jail alone."
The boys' father had to step in
The twins' mother, Deborah, was fed up and ended up sending both boys to a correctional camp in their teens. When that failed to help with their bad behavior, the boys' father became involved. Jason recalls his father's way of handling them. "We'd always been pretty well behaved when we were with our dad, because he would whoop our a**," he says. "He was a Vietnam vet, who did two tours and was a very strict disciplinarian. And I was always scared of him" (via Spin1038).
Jason and Brett's father appeared to have scared them straight, as the two both went on to graduate and become lawyers. Brett graduated from the UCLA School of Law and worked for both Latham and Watkins LLP and Skadden, Arps LLP. Brett claims he liked working as a lawyer but was "pretty unhappy" overall and didn't like the formality and lack of client contact in his position (per Film Daily). Jason's time as a lawyer is as notable as his brother's. He represented the CEO of Enron Corporation, and his impressive trial work is featured in The American Lawyer, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times (via Film Daily).
Their personal lives aren't as locked down as their professional ones
It turns out it was Brett who made the career change from law to real estate first. It appears to have been a natural choice, as he states, "real estate was always in my blood, five generations of my family have practiced some form of real estate" (per Film Daily). Brother Jason joined him in the switch a little over a year later. The twins' company, the Oppenheim Group as we see it today, was originally the Stern Realty Co. It was founded by the their great-great grandfather in 1889 (via Film Daily).
The brothers appear to have their professional success locked down, but what about their personal lives? Brett has always kept mum, although in season 3, we were quickly introduced (so quickly you would miss her if you blinked) to his newest girlfriend when he shows her off to the other agents and says, "Sweetheart, I want to introduce you real quick, this is Katya" (per the Daily Express). Little is known about Katya, but we're hoping to find out more in the newest season of Selling Sunset.
Currently, Jason states he's "happily single" and admits his stress over dating, saying, "The real difficulty is if I'm dating someone, not only do I have to like them, and they have to pass my test, but they have to go through Mary, Amanza, Romain, Chrishell, and Heather, and I almost feel sorry for anyone I date" (via The Cinemaholic). We're sorry we're not sorry. That is going to be so fun to watch!