Stronger Than Ever
Flip or flop’s Christina Tells All
In an exclusive interview, Flip or Flop’s Christina El Moussa opens up about divorce, new love and having to start over.
It ’s been a difficult year for Christina El Moussa. In December, she announced her split from her husband of seven years, Flip or Flop co- star Tarek. Hurtful rumors soon spread online, making the separation even more painful. “No one was cheating,” Christina exclusively tells Life & Style, setting the record straight. Another thing that irritated her? Talk that “I had champagne taste and Tarek was a beer can kind of guy. That one I find laughable.”
Want the truth? Christina’s sharing it with Life & Style readers. Between juggling a new season of her hit HGTV show, new love and the new world of co-parenting with an ex, the blond beauty made time to sit down and open up about her divorce, as well as the lessons she’s learned from the heartbreak. “I learned that you have to have thick skin,” she says of her headline-grabbing breakup. “I just learned that I know who I am, my friends know who I am, and I really have not let it affect me.” In fact, when asked if divorce actually made her stronger, Christina, 34, offered a confident one- word answer: “Definitely.”
MOVING ON
Christina’s poise and self- confidence not only helped her get through one of the hardest times of her life, they also led her to open her heart again. For the past few months, she’s been seeing businessman Doug Spedding, whom she’d dated before tying the knot with Tarek, 36. “I’m really happy,” Christina gushes to Life & Style, noting that she and her beau took a romantic trek to Bali this summer — her first full week away from kids Taylor, 7, and Brayden, 2. “Every thing ’ s going great in my current relationship,” she says. “We just get along really well, and we’re really good friends, too. We have a lot of fun together.”
To Christina’s relief, so do their kids. She’s happily formed a modernday Brady Bunch with father- of-six Doug. “Four of them are older, and he has twin girls that are 10,” explains Christina. “The girls get along really well with Taylor and she looks up to them. They love swimming in my pool and barbecuing and going on the boat, just doing stuff like that.”
When their schedules line up, that is. Doug, 55, “has his girls part-time just like I have my kids parttime,” notes Christina.
“I don’t have any regrets.” — Christina tells Life&style