Twist of fate! Ant Anstead wasn’t expecting to find love when he signed up for Celebrity IOU: Joy Ride — but the universe had other plans.
The 42-year-old couldn’t help but gush over his relationship with Renée Zellweger, whom he met while filming the Discovery+ series, while guest-hosting Entertainment Tonight on Friday, August 20.
“Sometimes things come to you at the right time, and actually the right time is often the most unexpected,” the Wheeler Dealers star said. “There’s absolutely no way it was something I expected, but there’s something magical in that right?”
Anstead was previously married to Christina Haack, with whom he shares 23-month-old son Hudson. The pair called it quits in September 2020 and finalized their divorce the following June. Soon after he was declared legally single, the U.K. native was linked to the Oscar winner, 52, and was feeling better than ever.
“He’s excited about life and excited in general,” a source told Us Weekly exclusively in July. “Part of it can be because he’s dating Renée. … You can tell he’s in a good spot in his life — he’s super happy.”
The 38-year-old HGTV star, for her part, moved on with boyfriend Joshua Hall. As they continue to navigate their new normal, the former couple are set on putting their son’s needs first.
“The concept of blended families is more common now than it was and we live in a society now where it’s more normal,” Anstead said on Friday, adding that “it’s a real shame” when exes can’t make coparenting work. “So you have to bring a level of normalcy to it. Hudson’s peers and kids at school are all in very similar situations and it just has to come from a place of love really because ultimately if the decision is in favor of the child, it’s ultimately the right decision.”
The Cops and Robbers author also shares two children with ex-wife Louise Anstead, from whom he split in 2017. Meanwhile, Haack previously welcomed daughter Taylor, now 10, and son Brayden, now 6, with ex-husband Tarek El Moussa. Coparenting Hudson has been made easier by their past experiences, Ant explained.
“Because ultimately when all that, I guess, awkwardness falls away, which it will do eventually, time’s a great healer, you’re only gonna get the opportunity to look back. And when you look back and you say, ‘How did I handle my side? How did I handle my half?'” he told ET. “And, you know, I’m really proud of my half.”
Though his past relationships haven’t been the smoothest, the For the Love of Cars cohost feels like he found his match in Zellweger.
“They each feel like they’ve finally met their soulmate,” a source told Us earlier this month, noting that the couple are “really cherishing their time together” and are “headed in a positive direction.”
