The Tragic Truth About Christina Hall
HGTV viewers were first introduced to Christina El Moussa — as she was then known — with the arrival of the new series "Flip or Flop" in 2013. In the show, she and then-husband Tarek El Moussa utilized their skills at identifying fixer-upper homes with potential, which they would then purchase, renovate and sell at a profit, with much of the increased resale value coming from her keen eye for design.
The show became a major hit for the network, and the two continued to be onscreen partners even when their marriage disintegrated. After continuing the show as ex-spouses, the two eventually embarked on their own projects — "Christina on the Coast" and "The Flipping El Moussas," in which her ex flipped houses with his new wife, "Selling Sunset" star Heather Rae Young. Meanwhile, Christina moved on from her first marriage after the divorce, which (so far) has included a brief second marriage to Ant Anstead — followed by a divorce and a third marriage to Joshua Hall.
Now going by Christina Hall, she's had quite the journey in the years since she first appeared on TV screens, and there have decidedly plenty of ups and downs. To find out more about the latter, read on to discover the tragic truth about Christina Hall.
She was devastated by her first husband's cancer diagnosis
Back in 2013, Christina Hall and then-husband Tarek El Moussa were on the top of the world. They'd taken their successful house-flipping enterprise to HGTV, leading to "Flip or Flop" becoming one of the network's most popular shows, and recently welcomed their first child. Their newfound HGTV fame opened up a whole new world of opportunities for them.
During the show's first season, a viewer — a registered nurse — saw an unusual lump on El Moussa's neck and reached out to the show's production company urging, him to have it checked out. He did and underwent a surgical procedure to remove it — which didn't go as planned. "When I woke up, my wife was crying and the first thing I asked was, 'It's cancer, isn't it?' And she said, 'Yeah,'" he told People. Hall was blindsided by the diagnosis, her concerns falling by the wayside as she confronted her then-husband's mortality. "I was just feeling totally overwhelmed about losing him, him having to go through treatments, our daughter," she admitted in an interview with Today.
What the El Moussas didn't reveal at the time was that he'd also received a second diagnosis of testicular cancer. The dual diagnoses, along with everything else going on in their lives, added extra stress to their marriage. "It just kind of started pushing us apart from each other," El Moussa said during an appearance on "The Doctors," via TV Guide.
She suffered a miscarriage before the birth of her second child
After the birth of daughter Taylor in 2010, Christina Hall barely had time to catch her breath. As she told People, after a four-week break, she went right back to work. "It was too soon for me," she admitted. "The tension between me and Tarek was high."
While El Moussa underwent cancer treatment, Hall wanted to have another child. Because her first pregnancy had been high-risk, the couple embarked on a course of in vitro fertilization. The first attempt failed, but on the second, she was elated to discover she was pregnant. That happiness, however, proved to be short-lived when she endured the heartbreak of suffering a miscarriage at eight weeks.
She didn't give up, and her third IVF treatment once again resulted in pregnancy. Because the pregnancy had been categorized as high-risk, she was instructed to take special precautions. "I had to be really strict," she said in an interview with People. "I had to do one full week in bed. For 13 weeks after that, I couldn't go for a walk and couldn't lift anything over a gallon of milk." Her anxiety about possibly experiencing another miscarriage was understandably high. "At around six weeks pregnant I started spotting, so I thought that we lost the baby again," she said. Thankfully, the couple's second child — son Brayden — arrived safe and sound, delivered via emergency C-section.
A rift formed in her marriage to Tarek El Moussa
While Tarek El Moussa battled cancer, and then-wife Christina Hall struggled to have a second baby, the popularity of their HGTV hit continued to soar. What viewers never could have imagined, however, was that behind the scenes, when they weren't being filmed renovating homes, their marriage was coming apart at the seams. "Like any couple, we had our share of issues," she explained to People. "But we went through a lot in a short amount of time."
All the travails they'd overcome, both as a couple and individually, did not end up bringing them closer together; instead, those experiences combined to create distance between them, a divide that only grew larger as time progressed. "We weren't able to properly communicate anymore," she explained of the difficulties they were experiencing during that period. "It got to the point where we weren't even driving to set together."
Looking back at that difficult period in the marriage, Hall admitted that, in hindsight, the relationship had already ended before they'd actually taken steps to divorce. "I think the separation process begins long before people actually separate," she said. "So by the time we officially did, I felt like a weight was lifted off me."
The frightening gun incident that ended her first marriage
The first public inkling of trouble in Christina Hall's marriage to Tarek El Moussa came in 2016 when TMZ reported that police were sent to the couple's home after a disturbing 911 call that involved a gun and fears of an attempted suicide. The situation was resolved peacefully, although the outlet reported that officers seized five guns from the home, including an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
About six months later, the couple issued a statement to announce they were splitting up. "Like many couples, we have had challenges in our marriage," the two said in a statement to Us Weekly. The statement characterized the police incident as an "unfortunate misunderstanding" and pointed out that there had been an absence of violence and no charges filed.
As El Moussa wrote in his 2024 memoir, "Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress — in Real Estate, Business and Life" (via People) they'd had a fight, and he left the house carrying a pistol. Fearing the worst, Hall called 911; however, El Moussa insisted he simply wanted to clear his head with a hike and brought the weapon in case he encountered any bobcats or mountain lions. When police arrived, he was placed in handcuffs. "That was the very last time we were together as a family: with Christina walking down the driveway, crying, and me sitting there in handcuffs, asking myself, 'What in the world is going on?'" he wrote.
Her daughter had a tough time with the divorce
Taylor El Moussa, the eldest child of Christina Hall and Tarek El Moussa, was devastated by her parents' divorce. As Hall recalled in an interview with People, her daughter begged her parents to reunite. "We had to explain that sometimes couples get divorced but that she and Brayden are our No. 1 priority. We'll always be a family," Hall explained.
To help Taylor deal with everything she was feeling from the divorce, they placed her in therapy. According to Hall, that appeared to be going well, discussing her emotions with a therapist, until she made a declaration to her mother. "One day, as I was driving her to an appointment, she said, 'I don't need to go to therapy anymore. I think you and Daddy are happier apart, and I don't really need to talk about it anymore,'" Hall told Good Housekeeping. "She's very open and honest with her feelings, but still I was like, 'Wow, that's a big comment for a 6-year-old.'"
Her divorce from Tarek El Moussa was painful — and public
While the success of "Flip or Flop" on HGTV transformed Christina Hall and Tarek El Moussa from successful house-flippers into celebrity TV stars, their newfound fame also ensured that their divorce would not be a private matter and would take place under the harsh glare of the media spotlight. That, Hall admitted, made the anguish she was going through all the more painful. Meanwhile, the fact that success was tied to her ex-husband brought Hall no shortage of uncertainty about the situation.
"It was very stressful," Hall told People, "because there were so many things happening, and we didn't know if 'Flip or Flop' was going to continue. I didn't know where my career was gonna go ... I felt like I was drowning. I was just trying to stay above water, like, just doing whatever I could to just get through the day."
El Moussa was likewise left impacted pretty significantly by the split. "Let's just be honest, divorce is not easy," El Moussa mused during a 2024 appearance on "Fox and Friends."
Working together on Flip or Flop after their divorce was a tense experience
After Christina Hall and Tarek El Moussa made the difficult decision to divorce, the fate of "Flip or Flop" seemed uncertain. The exes, however, felt it was important that the show must go on, with both feeling it would be foolish to discard something they'd worked so hard to build. "To just throw everything away ... it wasn't worth it," El Moussa told House Beautiful. The way Hall viewed it, working together on the show was an extension of co-parenting their children. "And we have two amazing kids together, so it's easier to work together and get along."
While the exes typically presented a united front, insisting they'd worked out their differences — particularly while they worked together on "Flip or Flop" — that hasn't always been the case. In 2021 TMZ reported on the allegations of sources who claimed El Moussa blew up at Hall while they were filming the show. According to TMZ, El Moussa became enraged when Hall indicated that she and the crew were ready to start shooting, leading him to verbally berate her. In addition to allegedly calling her a "washed-up loser," El Moussa also supposedly told her, "Look at me, look at me, look at me. It's called winning ... The world knows you're crazy!"
In March 2022, El Moussa announced that the season's upcoming episodes — which would have been filmed around the time of the alleged incident — would be the series' last.
She split from her second husband Ant Anstead after less than two years of marriage
In January 2018, Christina Hall's divorce from Tarek El Moussa was finalized. Earlier that same month, Hall revealed that she and TV host Ant Anstead were officially a couple. By the end of the year, they'd tied the knot. Just a few months later, in March 2019, they announced they were expecting their first child together, with son Hudson arriving that September. Three months later, they celebrated their first wedding anniversary.
They never did make it to their second anniversary. In September 2020, the spouses announced they were going their separate ways. "Ant and I have made the difficult decision to separate," Hall wrote in an Instagram post (since deleted, but reported by Us Weekly). Shortly after issuing that post, Hall shared another lengthy message in which she reintroduced herself to her followers. "I never thought I would have one divorce let alone two," she admitted. "I never thought I would have two baby daddies — but sometimes life throws us curve balls."
Anstead also weighed in on Instagram, declaring the decision to divorce was entirely hers. The reason he hadn't broken his silence earlier, he explained, was because he was hopeful they'd be able to sort things out and reconcile. "I have remained silent while holding on to hope. I never gave up on us. I pray Christina's decision brings her happiness," he wrote.
She faced off against ex Ant Anstead in court during an 'unnecessary' custody battle
Having followed her whirlwind wedding with an equally rapid breakup, it wasn't long before Christina Hall and second ex-husband Ant Anstead found themselves facing off in a courtroom over custody of their infant son, Hudson.
The animosity between the two was clear in the response that Anstead received to an Instagram post featuring a video of Hudson kicking a soccer ball, with a commenter chiding him. "I thought you didn't want your son to be exploited on social media," read the comment. Anstead responded his intent in posting about his son was very different from that of his ex. "But being a puppet 'used' for commercial gain and being made to perform makes my stomach sick," he wrote (as reported by Us Weekly), implying his ex was exploiting their son. A few months later, Hall issued an Instagram post declaring she would no longer be featuring Hudson in her feed and explained why. "I am mentally exhausted over the recent false accusations against me. Hudson's father has made attempts to turn my family, friends and fans against me through manipulation tactics and false information," she wrote.
The two settled their custody dispute in December 2022. In a 2023 Mother's Day message on Instagram, Hall reflected on what she'd endured over the past year. "Going through an extremely unnecessary custody battle, family issues, dealing with a health scare — amongst other things," she wrote.
She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder
In a 2020 Instagram post (which she since deleted, but was described by House Beautiful), Christina Hall revealed she'd been diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the body's immune system attacks the thyroid.
She later spoke with People about coping with that illness, as well as some of the other myriad health challenges she'd been experiencing for the past few years. "Five years ago I didn't feel great," she explained. "I'd have brain fog or constantly feel like I was in fight-or-flight mode, but I just thought, 'Well, I'm stressed, so this is how I should feel.'" Hall subsequently took to Instagram to reveal she'd been feeling run down and detailed the litany of symptoms she'd been experiencing. "Some of my issues include: Inflammation, autoimmune issues (Hashimoto's disease, PCOS, Raynaud's syndrome), unexplained skin rashes, joint and muscle pain, dry eyes, GI issues, SIBO, acid reflux, brain fog, hormone imbalances, swollen lymph nodes and adrenal fatigue," she wrote, wondering if those symptoms could potentially be caused by her breast implants.
She later shared a series of posts on Instagram Stories (reported by People), explaining she'd undergone extensive testing that revealed she had lead and mercury poisoning, as well as excessive bacteria in her small intestine, and offered her own theory: "Most likely from all the gross houses I've been in [all the bad flips]," she declared.
Reported clashes with Tarek El Moussa's new wife Heather Rae El Moussa
There's no question that Christina Hall has had her ups and downs with her first ex-husband, Tarek El Moussa. However, there appeared to be increasing tensions after he got married to Heather Rae Young, a star of Netflix real-estate reality hit "Selling Sunset."
That was evident in May 2022, when the Daily Mail published a series of photos in which El Moussa was seen apparently grabbing his second wife by the arm, seemingly pulling her away from an angry confrontation with Hall — who was accompanied by her third husband, Joshua Hall. While it was unclear what the apparent dispute was about, the incident took place while they were all attending Brayden El Moussa's soccer game — and a soccer coach was apparently involved.
A joint statement, issued on behalf of both El Moussa and Hall, attempted to quell suspicions of acrimony between El Moussa's first and second wives. "A personal matter was discussed and has since been resolved," read a statement issued to Page Six. "We are focused on co-parenting as a team moving forward."
She was hit with backlash over claim she doesn't like working with women
It's clear that Christina Hall has been no stranger to controversy over the years, and that was never more clear than in the first month of 2024. In an Instagram post, she confronted a rumor that was being spread about her by someone who apparently was once an employee. "Recently a coworker of mine told me a former employer told him I refused to work with women because I was some sort of?? Not sure what the word is because I don't identify with whatever it is..." she wrote.
She continued by shutting that entire notion down — and emphatically. "I've always worked with females so that's a load of s*** and highly offensive," she added. She also encouraged anyone who didn't believe her to speak with the people she was then working with on her HGTV solo show, "Christina on the Coast" — many of whom are women. "My current 'Christina on the Coast' team is the most fun and on point it's ever been and I see a lot of females here," she said, positing that those who continue to criticize her do so because of their own issues, not hers. "So to those who love to throw stones that's just your own internal struggle," she concluded.
She's admitted she's hurt by hateful comments from online trolls
Clearly, Christina Hall has the strength and wherewithal to stand up for herself and set the record straight when she feels she's being wrongfully accused. That said, she's still a human being with feelings and emotions that can be impacted. While she may have built up a thick skin, she's not immune from being hurt by hateful comments made about her online.
Interviewed by People, Hall revealed she's developed a strategy for dealing with haters, giving herself the latitude to get ticked off before letting it all slide off her shoulders. "I allow myself a little time to be upset," she explained, "and usually the things that upset me are when people make direct statements about things they have no idea about. Sometimes that'll really irritate me and then I'll talk to [my husband] Josh about it."
The ability to push online nastiness to the side, she said, is something that has grown easier for her over the years. "I think the older I get, the less I care," she told the outlet. "I'm approaching 40 in a few months and what I've heard is, in your 40s, you're the most confident and comfortable in your own skin."