Flipping that frown upside down. Flip or Flop star Christina El Moussa is leaning on her kids to cheer her up after a highly publicized split from her husband, Tarek El Moussa.
The HGTV star, 33, shared an adorable video on Monday, December 19, of her 15-month-old son, Brayden, squealing while playing peekaboo. “Even on my roughest days he always brings a smile to my face. #BraydenJames you make our lives complete @bee_elise @therealtarekelmoussa,” she captioned the Instagram clip.
The couple, who are also parents of 6-year-old daughter Taylor, announced earlier this month that they were separating after seven years of marriage. “Like many couples, we have had challenges in our marriage,” they told Us Weekly in a joint statement. “We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago and the police were called to our house in an abundance of caution. There was no violence and no charges were filed. We chose to get counseling to sort out our relationship. Together, we have decided to separate while we reevaluate the future of our marriage.”
The “unfortunate misunderstanding” seems to refer to an incident back in May in which the Orange County Sheriff’s Department was called to the couple’s home about a “possibly suicidal male with a gun.” A friend of Christina’s told police that she saw Tarek grab a gun from his safe before storming outside and into the woods. However, Tarek later said he took the firearm with him “for safety because of mountain lions and rattlesnakes.”
While the reality stars have said that they will continue to work together professionally, they’ve also said that they’ve been dating other people since they separated in May. According to TMZ, Christina has been dating the family contractor Gary Anderson, who happened to be working at a home next door during the gun incident and gave a statement to the police as an eyewitness.
Meanwhile, Tarek reportedly had a brief relationship with the couple’s former nanny Alyssa Logan. Per TMZ, he had feelings for the 23-year-old, but was advised by friends not to pursue a romance with her while she was an employee of the family. He then let her go from her job, and they dated for a few short weeks in September.
