For anyone who watched the first season of The Flip Off on HGTV, it may not seem like Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack have the best relationship. The former spouses drive each other crazy, forcing Tarek’s wife Heather Rae to play mediator. The reality is, though, that they’ve come a long way since the darker days of Flip or Flop, and Haack opened up about how they’re able to pull off what seems like a really healthy co-parenting relationship.
The Flip Off was full of drama when it aired on the 2025 TV schedule, thanks to Christina Haack and her third husband Josh Hall calling it quits in the middle of production. This resulted in an unexpectedly emotional conversation between her and Tarek El Moussa, and we also saw her mend fences with Ant Anstead, her second ex-husband. The HGTV star got real about their unconventional friendships, telling People:
It really takes everyone in a co-parenting situation wanting to make it work. I have people message me all the time to be like, ‘How did you do that? My husband’s ex hates me,’ or ‘I could never hang out with my ex.’ It takes all of us, and right now there’s four people in this situation — myself, my boyfriend Chris, Tarek and Heather — and all of us want to get along. All of us work hard to make sure that we’re all getting along.
It certainly hasn’t come easy. Tensions were often high on Flip or Flop after the couple divorced, which once led to an on-set tirade in which Tarek El Moussa screamed in his ex-wife’s face. And Christina Haack and Heather Rae El Moussa may get along great now, but that wasn’t always the case.
A big part of their current healthy situation was being able to get past those painful tougher times, Haack said:
I’m really good at letting go of the past, so is Tarek. We can be over something in literally like .5 seconds and never want to talk about it again. So I think it’s just a maturity level and us putting the kids first and then the rest is kind of easy.
Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack share two children together, while Christina has a son with Ant Anstead, and Tarek and Heather Rae also have a son. The Flipping El Moussas stars have credited “really hard” work and putting the kids first as the keys to co-parenting with his ex. Tarek has said he can’t let his ego, emotions or insecurities get in the way of what’s important for his children — especially in how he treats their mother.
As for Ant Anstead, he and Christina Haack were involved in an ugly custody battle after they split, but following her breakup with Josh Hall, Anstead expressed a desire to patch things up for the sake of their son, which we saw when he served as a guest judge on The Flip Off. Haack is grateful they were able to work things out, saying:
We go to soccer games. We sit next to each other at school. We do birthday parties together. And thank God, because that would make me so sad if growing up, Hudson, didn’t get to have those things with us.
It’s great to see these former couples setting examples of what good co-parenting can look like, even if things start out in what seems like an impossibly contentious place. And luckily for us, we’ll get to see more of it when The Flip Off Season 2 coming next year.
In the meantime, you can watch Season 1 of the exes’ house-flipping battle with an HBO Max subscription, which also gives you access to Flip or Flop, Christina on the Coast, The Flipping El Moussas and many other shows from your favorite HGTV stars.