Over the weekend, we discussed the truly surprising news of Christina and Ant Anstead’s separation. They have been married for less than two years, and they welcomed their son Hudson one year ago. Christina is part of a successful HGTV franchise with her now ex-husband Tarek El Moussa – they still do Flip or Flop together, and they are still deeply connected financially and with their two kids. But when Christina married Ant, she got a separate HGTV show, and she featured a lot about her home life with Ant. I thought they were happy. At least, I thought they would make it a solid five years. So what went wrong?
Christina and Ant Anstead were having trouble navigating life with their blended families before she announced their split, a source tells PEOPLE. The Christina on the Coast star, 37, revealed last Friday on Instagram that she and her British TV presenter husband of less than two years were separating. But the couple had been struggling with their relationship for a year — since the birth of their son Hudson, 1, in September 2019, according to a source.
“After the baby, they started having conflicts,” the source says. In addition to Hudson, Christina shares daughter Taylor, 10, and son Brayden, 5, with ex Tarek El Moussa and Ant has Amelie, 16, and Archie, 14, with his ex-wife Louise Herbert.
Despite her full house, the source says, the designer was left feeling “lonely and unhappy” with her home life. “Christina found it difficult to balance everything” and “their marriage was struggling.”
While the news of their split comes as a shock for HGTV fans (she also appears alongside El Moussa on Flip or Flop), Christina is remaining optimistic about her future. “She never expected to get a divorce,” the source says. “But she is doing okay and focusing on the kids.”
Some commenters were saying that the pandemic screwed up the family, that Ant has been in England for months and that he and Christina have been low-key separated all that time? Could be. It might be a chicken-and-egg situation – the pandemic screwed everything up, or they were already having big problems and that’s why he left. In any case, I feel sorry for her – sitting in her “dream home” with three kids. Tarek has always been a hands-on dad to Taylor and Brayden, and I assume that he’s probably helping Christina out a lot on that front.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.
While every failed relationship has a 50/50 accountability, I get the sense that there’s way more going on than meets the eye (of course).
Though I knew when the news broke that she was going to move quickly to blame him (the same way she did with Tarek – “He’s crazy!”), what’s interesting to me is that her PR team was immediately out there, with birthday pics yesterday and declarations (on her part) that: “Gee, I’m disappointed, but I’m okay, everything’s okay, kids are okay, nothing to see here.” Meanwhile, he has said nothing.
So, let’s just get to the point: This is embarrassing and with a kid in the mix, especially with international jurisdiction, this is gonna get ugly. Prediction: She’ll be remarried within three years – because that’s the way she rolls.
I feel for everyone struggling right now. It would be so hard to juggle having older kids and a new baby an ocean apart with travel restrictions and quarantining. The older children have more awareness about the absence of a parent and I know how hard infants are and wanting your partner there to experience those first moments and bonding etc. I feel like we can all use a little extra grace right now. And yes, I get I am on a gossip blog. Nevermind my earlier statement. Judge away friends!
@anon, I agree with you 100%!
I never really got the “failed marriages are equally at fault.” My ex husband was a college professor who slept with his students. I left as soon as I found out. I’d love to know how that’s 50% “my fault”.
Chalk it up to another COVID split. They weren’t together all that long before they were married and had a kid, he seemed to travel a good bit for work and to see his older kids so perhaps once they were locked down and had to spend concentrated time together realized they were not a good match after all.
I do remember her posting numerous times that the youngest kid was a much harder adjustment than her two with Tarek. Think with the older two she and Tarek also were in business together so parenting was more evenly balanced.
I might be overreaching, but her saying this new baby is difficult seems to be a criticism of the dad. I think Tarek was a present/helpful father, but this guy, spread thin between two families and continents is not. It seems like if they hadn’t rushed into marriage, they would have both realized it wasnt going to work.
She seems addicted to getting married having kids and the fairy tale ending. What a weirdo
Look, things happen.
Healthy baby, marriage didn’t work out.
At least be Adults and good parents, that’s what matters.
Btw, after making big $$ as reality stars, do any of these people ever just go away back to living as “typical” people?
I wish they all would. Cut cable a few years back, saved $, Amazon, Netflix, Disney+, CBS for the local weather news. Don’t miss cable shows much.
I feel sorry for her, too.
Shortly after they bought their dream home together (maybe 3 months?l after the wedding) didn’t Ant give Christina his rights to the house so she would own it outright? Always thought that a little weird.
For some reason I thought she bought it before meeting Ant, because it was close to where Tarek had moved (meanwhile he impulsively bought another house after meeting his current GF). He had a hand in some of the reno though…..and for people on shows I rarely watch, I know way too much about them, lol!
On the show they were looking for a home to share then bought it together a few months before the wedding. At the time I thought it a little suspect they were dividing up property like that a few months after the wedding. But then prenuptial and postnuptial agreements always seemed like you expect a divorce to me.
I sort of get the feeling that she was trying to follow the Bethany Frankel strategy of leaving an ensemble reality show by quickly getting engaged, married and baby to score her own show.
And she got her own show.
After all, she was vocal about not wanting to do flip or flop with her abusive ex and who could blame her?
But to land her own show, she needed something extra
And yes, I think for fame and fortune there are people who will go to these lengths.
I mean, quite honestly, if you have children who live in another country (or even just far enough to require a plane trip) and you share custody with an ex, and you care about maintaining your relationship with your kids, then you should very likely avoid a serious relationship or marriage with someone who also is tied down with joint custody in a different country/area.
In the end, no amount of back and forth will allow you to be a hands on parent, and even if you spent every weekend flying back and forth (which is exhausting), you’ll be shortchanging one set of kids. It’s simply unrealistic to expect otherwise.
I know parents feel they have a right to be happy, especially after a difficult divorce. But there are limits to your freedom when you have kids and joint custody, and pretending otherwise is a recipe for heartbreak.
There are other fish in the sea. These two never should have gotten married and definitely never should’ve had kids. It’s unjust to all the kids in the situation. Better to wait, and eventually find love with someone who won’t be forced to choose between a solid relationship with children, or one with a new spouse.
(I say this from painful experience. My first relationship after a difficult divorce was with a man who also shared custody of his kids with his ex. We lived in cities 1000 miles apart. We loved each other very much, but ended the relationship because there was no way we could be the parents we wanted to be and spend time with each other).
These two rushed into things, and I think they both regret it. I feel bad for the kids who are now stuck.
I’m sorry for your heartbreak, Lindy. That’s really the difference between being a mature adult and one that is selfishly just thinking about what they want. People talk about Christina jumping into marriage and baby fast but after reading up on the background on these two, I found out he announced in October 2017 (when he first rang up Christina although they weren’t public yet) that he had separated from his partner of over 20 years the prior July. Over 20 years with one person then 3 months later a serious relationship? Yikes. Red flags all over.
That’s such a kind thing to say! But yeah, it was never a question for either of us that our kids have to come first. The good news is that, many years later, we’ve both settled down happily with others we eventually met, our kids are thriving, and we’re still friends.
My heart hurts for this guy’s kids, left behind in London. And now also for his new baby, who will likely get the short end of things. 🙁
It sucks for the kids most of all.
Totally agree! Imagine how his kids in the U.K. must feel. So sad.
Who?
It must have been extremely hard on him to have his kids back in the UK and have a child here in the US without the pandemic… once COVID hit it must have magnified that stress. I always thought it was odd how fast everything happened between them given the fact that they both had kids they were bringing into the relationship. I’m sad for them and their kids, but yikes.
I always assumed that the pregnancy was unplanned, and got married quickly because she was pregnant. She struggled to get pregnant with her second, so maybe there weren’t taking precautions.
‘Tarek has always been a hands-on dad’
? I thought he refused to get up at night with them in a previous interview