Who is Selling Sunset’s Amanza Smith? Inside her dating history

Selling Sunset newbie Amanza Smith has fast become one of our favourite stars of the Netflix reality show, with her endearing mishaps and ridiculously on-point wardrobe. 

It’s no easy task befriending the likes of Christine Quinn and Heather Rae Young at the Oppenheim Group but Amanza has held her own and fitted in like a glove after joining season two. 

We laughed when she got her heel stuck in the floorboards during her first work meeting and empathised during her custody battle with her ex-husband. 

While Amanza is certainly great entertainment, she’s also clearly got a heart of gold making her the perfect addition to LA’s luxury real estate brokerage. 

And our girl’s got quite a back story… 

How did Amanza join the Oppenheim Group? 

Amanza has been best friends with top agent Mary Fitzgerald and brokerage CEO Jason Oppenheim for around 19 years, so she’s definitely part of the family. 

She was also maid of honour at Mary’s wedding to Romain Bonnet in the season two finale and threw the bachelorette party, so those two are as thick as thieves. 

Opening up about her special bond with Jason, the interior designer said after her grand arrival: ‘I’m so grateful for Jason. 

‘When I got a divorce, he literally co-signed an apartment for me and my kids. I was getting turned down right and left and he’s like, “As long as you pay the rent on time, it’s fine”.’ 

Who is Amanza’s ex-husband? 

Amanza has willingly opened the door to her personal life on the show and her two young children, Noah and Braker, have featured briefly.

She has also detailed her split from ex-husband Ralph Brown and their joint child custody battles.

Ralph, 41, is a retired NFL star who played with the New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns and the Arizona Cardinals. 

He launched his football career in 1996 when he started playing for the University of Nebraska and remained there until 1999.

Throughout his career, Ralph notched up more than 200 tackles and had a school record with 50 pass deflections.

He retired in 2006, the year before he and Amanza married. 

Recalling life after their split, Amanza explained: ‘I decided to start my real estate career to provide for my family. I have two amazing kids. I’ve been a single mum since they were one and two, they’re now eight and nine. 

‘When I met my ex-husband he was playing in the NFL. It was pretty comfortable. When we separated, my ex unfortunately couldn’t even pay child support. 

‘I was doing everything, I cleaned houses, I walked dogs, I was a nanny. I probably hadn’t cleaned my own toilet in nine years and suddenly…’ 

In a later episode, Amanza revealed there was a breakdown in her communication with Ralph and she ‘didn’t know where he was’. She also said his alleged absence began to have an impact on the children who wondered why they hadn’t seen him. 

Amanza then revealed she had filed for primary custody of Noah and Braker, and was awaiting a court date.  

Who else has Amanza dated? 

Following her split from Ralph, the real estate agent went on to date How Stella Got Her Groove Back actor Taye Diggs in 2014. It came after his split from ex-wife and Frozen actress Idina Menzel.

Amanza and Taye were pretty serious about each other and made several red carpet appearances together, while a source also told E! News at the time: ‘They are 100 percent in love. They have been dating for a while.’ 

Coincidentally, Taye appeared in season one of Selling Sunset – which was filmed in 2018 – and bought a house from Mary.

However, he and Amanza went their separate ways that same year. 

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