Learning to coparent. It’s been a rocky year for Gina and Matthew Kirschenheiter, but the Real Housewives of Orange County star is finally in a good place.
“I think I’m on the good side of it. … The good side of the bad,” the 35-year-old Bravo star told Us Weekly exclusively. “It’s all right, I think it’s OK. We are actually divorced, it will be final by the end of the year. … I think I’ve gotten myself to a place where I understand that this is the best thing for me and my children and my family and I feel good about that.”
Gina and Matt, who share sons Nicholas, 7, and Luca, 4, and daughter Sienna, 5, called it quits in July 2018. While they briefly got back together, the financial account manager was arrested and subsequently charged with domestic violence in June. Gina, who was granted a restraining order against Matt, alleged that her ex was abusive during their relationship.
While a judge granted Gina with primary physical custody of their kids, the exes will share joint legal custody. The reality TV personality told Us that the pair are currently communicating solely about their sons and daughter.
“We correspond through a government monitored site, Talking Parents, but I actually think that that really is the best thing for us and I actually do think it was really helpful for us,” she explained. “I would suggest that for a lot of people going through divorce because you just, you can’t take the shots. So it kind of takes all of that out of it. It really just becomes about like, ‘OK, what are the issues at hand? What do we need to discuss?’ It’s mostly about the children. Right now that’s good enough for us and I think that we can build off of that.”
Gina added that she’s hopeful about their future as coparents.
“I don’t think that it has to be bad forever,” she told Us. “I’m a hopeful person, so I’m still really hopeful that in the future it won’t be like this and we can create kind of, like, ‘the new normal’ and set up really good boundaries to respect each other and still have a healthy coparenting relationship for our kids.”
While she admitted that she may have stayed with Matt longer than she should have because of their kids, Gina told Us that Nicholas, Sienna and Luca are doing better post-split.
“I actually see them thriving and more comfortable and more content than they’ve been in a long time. So I feel like it’s a really good thing for us,” she told Us. “Now that I’m sort of moving on and finding my way on my own, my kids are responding positivity to that and they’re also really happy when they’re with Matt. … So I’m happy that everybody’s happy right now. It’s good.”
Gina debuted her new man, Travis Mullen, on Monday, September 30, via Instagram. She told Us that the twosome met through friends.
“He’s a great person,” she gushed. “He’s a really good guy, really sweet, really kind and it’s nothing like I’ve ever really experienced before. I’m just really enjoying being with him and he’s pretty rad, so we’ll see what happens.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
