Christina Haack & Tarek El Moussa Break Down While Reflecting on Divorce 8 Years After Split

The exes got emotional as they apologized for past behavior to each other on the series premiere of their new show, in which Christina also opened up about her split from Josh Hall -- claiming she would get the "silent treatment" from him if she interacted with Tarek

Over eight years following their split, Christina Haack and Tarek El Moussa are looking back at what led to the end of their marriage -- and the ups and downs of their relationship since.

During Wednesday's series premiere of HGTV's The Flip Off, the former couple sat down for a conversation at Christina's Newport Beach home, with Christina and Tarek both becoming emotional as they reflected on the struggles they've gone through since their divorce and ultimately -- and tearfully -- reached a place of forgiveness.

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"I know we're in a good place now," Christina, 41, told Tarek, 43 through tears. "But yeah, we went through a lot of stuff. I don't think anyone understands just how much stuff we went through."

"We met when we were so young," added Christina, who was 22 when met a then-24-year-old Tarek. "When our stuff imploded, I felt like not only did I lose… we were best friends, but also I felt like I lost like, I need to be a full-time mom. And that really, really, really hurt me a lot and really affected me."

Tarek then also became emotional, telling his ex-wife, "I understand that feeling of being a little bit lost. And I acknowledge that I'm a big part, if not the entire part, of all of this."

Through sobs, Christina apologized to Tarek, saying, "I'm really sorry for s--t too. I really am. I just want you to know that."

Tarek reassured Christina that it was alright, putting his hand on her knee in comfort.

"Forgive me?" Christina asked her ex, who replied, "A hundred percent, yeah."

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"A hundred percent. I did a lot of things too," Tarek said, getting choked up. "I'm sorry. It's okay. I hold zero against you."

The emotional conversation continued as Christina praised Tarek's role as a father.

"You're a great dad. I'm really proud of you. You've come a really long way. I can see it, you know," she said to Tarek, who wiped tears from his face. "You're so much calmer, you're so much wiser, for real."

The pair announced their split in December 2016 after seven years of marriage --- following an altercation involving a gun and the police, which Tarek detailed in his memoir, Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress — in Real Estate, Business and Life. No charges were filed against the HGTV star.

While speaking in separate confessionals during Wednesday's premiere, both Christina and Tarek reflected on the dissolution of their relationship.

"I got diagnosed with cancer and then I hurt my back. I lost 60 lbs. because I was taking so many opiates and Vicodin and painkillers," Tarek told the TLC cameras. "I lost my way, lost who I was. I just wasn't the best husband. I wasn't the best father. You know, I own my s--t. It wasn't me, but it was me."

"Tarek didn't always treat me right, and he'll admit that," Christina said, adding that her ex was "more focused on work than his family."

"When we split up, it's like it forced him to be like, oh, I have to be present for these kids," she continued.

Tarek and Christina's marriage was finalized in 2018, and the two continued to film their show together, before it ended in 2022. Tarek went on to tie the knot with Heather Rae El Moussa in 2021. The couple welcomed son, Tristan, in February 2023.

Christina, meanwhile, moved on with Ant Anstead, whom she married in 2018, and shares son Hudson. The pair split in 2020, and their divorce was finalized in 2021. Christina secretly tied the knot for a third time later that year, marrying realtor Josh Hall, before calling it quits earlier this year.

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Christina Emotionally Reveals Josh Hall Split to Tarek

Christina and Tarek's conversation on Wednesday's premiere began with the former revealing that her marriage to Hall had come to an end.

"I know that look. What's going on? You good?" Tarek asked when he arrived at Christina's home, with the realtor telling her ex, "No ... Josh and I officially split up."

"We had a blow up... middle fingers in my face," she continued. "Things with Josh have been bad for a long time."

Christina -- who shares Taylor, 14, and Brayden, 9, with Tarek, and son Hudson, 5, with ex Ant Anstead -- said her kids "literally asked me to leave."

"They told me he's not nice to me. Why would I stick around?" she added.

The mom of three claimed that Josh would often give her the "silent treatment," and would not speak to her for several days if she happily interacted with Tarek.

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"You make him very insecure," Christina said. "Every time we'd barely joke at [the kids'] soccer [games], or if I laughed at you, he like would not speak to me for two to thre days. I would get silent treatment.”

She then shared how Josh allegedly saw her, telling Tarek, "He doesn't like me, calls me cocky. He thinks I'm arrogant. We both know I'm not cocky or arrogant. I just do work."

Tarek assured her that her ex was wrong. "You're not any other those thing," he said. "He's projecting. You’re a great mother, a great daughter. You are a great human."

Christina went on to become emotional as she opened up about the struggles she's faced in relationships since she and Tarek split.

"I feel like I’m in a tornado all the time and I just can't get out of it," she said through tears/
Everything since like 2016 has just been so hard and so horrible. There's so many good things but there's just so many bad things. It's just really taken a really bad toll on me."

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"I feel like I try to hide it and act like I’m not affected," she added, "but then I just do more stupid things to try to make myself feel better and then I keep doing it and getting into things too fast that I know aren’t right."

Josh filed for divorce from Christina in July 2024 after nearly three years of marriage, and the pair have since been involved in a contentious legal battle ever since. The Flip Off, which was announced in May 2024, two months before Josh and Christina's split, was originally set to star the now-exes as teammates competing in a house-flipping showdown against Tarek and his wife Heather.

After Josh filed for divorce, Christina returned to filming without him.

On Wednesday's premiere, she reflected on the end of her third marriage in a confessional.

"I never wanted to get divorced," she said. "I’m the only person in my family to ever get a divorce. So I just feel like it’s safer to be back in a relationship, but ultimately that was not safe either."

The Flip Off airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on HGTV.