After their seven years of marriage fell apart, Flip or Flop host Christina El Moussa is speaking out about her highly-publicized divorce from HGTV costar Tarek El Moussa.
Their surprising split culminated in a shocking confrontation last May when Tarek ran from their Orange County, California, home holding a firearm. The couple tried counseling, but ultimately filed for divorce in January. Now, Christina is sharing her side of the story in a recent interview with People and an appearance on Good Morning America.
"Like any couple, we had our share of issues," she told People. "But we went through a lot in a short amount of time."
"A lot" might even be an understatement. Tarek was diagnosed with thyroid cancer shortly after Flip or Flop premiered in 2013. A year later, Christina struggled getting pregnant, undergoing in vitro fertilization and suffering a tragic miscarriage in the process. The former couple eventually welcomed their second child, Braydon, in 2015.
But their son's birth also added new stress to the relationship, with Christina returning to work just four weeks later. "It was too soon for me," she told People. "I was overwhelmed. The tension between me and Tarek was high."
"We weren't able to properly communicate anymore," she added. "It got to the point where we weren't even driving to set together." The couple is still filming their hit series — through the end of this season at least — and Christina is happy with their new working relationship.
"We have so much fun on set and we look forward to continuing the show," she told GMA. "We met at work, so we worked together before we ever started dating." But there is one major difference: "Tarek and I don't discuss each other's personal lives," she explains. "It is what it is and we are going through a divorce and eventually we will be dating other people."
Christina also shared she's working on a new book about "things I've gone through and what's really helped me cope." But in the meantime, she assures her fans that she's doing "really, really good."
"There's a lot of false stories and a lot of hype, but in the end we're just normal, nice people who just want to be the best parents and coworkers that we can be," she told GMA. "Tarek and I are friends and we have a lot of support from our family."
Tarek's speaking out, too. In an interview with TODAY this morning, he talked about the now-infamous gun incident, claiming it was a misunderstanding. "There's mountain lions and bobcats and rattlesnakes and, like, big wildlife back there," he said. "I went out for a hike to scout some trails. It wasn't even a big deal. I didn't understand. It got really blown out of proportion."
Now, the El Moussa family is "doing absolutely fantastic," including the kids. "They're getting accustomed to the new situation," he said. "The most important thing is Christina's being a great mom. I'd like to think I'm being a great dad. So we're really supportive. We're spending as much time as possible with them."
[h/t ABC News
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