Christina and Ant Anstead make ‘difficult decision to separate’
The couple welcomed a baby boy, Hudson, in September 2019.
USA TODAY
Christina Haack and ex-husband Ant Anstead are in a much better place these days.
Still, Haack inviting her second ex-husband on as a judge on HGTV’s “The Flip Off” shocked her complicated co-stars: her first ex-husband Tarek El Moussa and his wife Heather Rae El Moussa.
On the fourth episode of the new series, titled “The Ex Factor,” Haack, 41, and Anstead, 45, discussed their turbulent split and their improved relationship as co-parents.
Haack said in the episode that she and Anstead had not been on speaking terms for four years. But she said a change began shortly after her split from her third husband, Josh Hall, when she picked up the couple’s 5-year-old son Hudson for a birthday party.
“I walked up to (Anstead’s) door, he gave me a huge hug. We hadn’t hugged in years,” Haack said in a confessional. “He just said, ‘I’m so sorry for everything you’re going through and I’m here for you no matter what you need.’ And it was a very nice moment. We had a long talk after. And we decided to put all the BS aside and be good co-parents like Tarek and I are.”
Tarek El Moussa reacts to Ant Anstead ‘Flip Off’ appearance: ‘Just have Josh come’
The El Moussas were surprised when Haack revealed she chose Anstead to judge, with Tarek El Moussa quipping: “Why don’t you just have Josh come and they can judge together?”
Tarek El Moussa revealed that he first learned of Haack and Anstead’s marriage after a few months of dating on social media. He said he messaged Anstead at the time, requesting he “treat my kids as your own,” but got no response. “Wonder why they got divorced,” the real estate investor threw in.
Later in the episode, Anstead called his and Haack’s relationship a “transformation.”
“Hudson is 5 now,” he said of their only child together. “And in those five years, it’s been really, really difficult. And that changed three months ago. The relationship that we have now is really, really important. And it’s been a transformation.”
He continued: “As parents, it took us four and a half years to get to that point, which is really shameful. You and I will be connected forever because we have a kid.”
Haack was originally supposed to star in the series with Hall, but that changed after their split. In July, Haack and Hall, 44, both filed divorce documents in California, citing irreconcilable differences, according to filings obtained by USA TODAY. They had been married since October 2021.
Haack and Anstead were married from December 2018 to June 2021. The English TV presenter and car builder is now tied to actress Renée Zellweger.
Haack has since revealed a new love interest, sharing a snap with her new boyfriend, Christopher Larocca, earlier this month.