'Flip or Flop's Tarek El Moussa talks Christina El Moussa dating Gary Anderson, how he found out they split

Flip or Flop star Tarek El Moussa is being honest about how it felt to see Christina El Moussa date the family's former contractor Gary Anderson and how he found out they recently split.


Tarek, 35, admitted it was hard for him to deal with his estranged wife and Flip or Flop co-star, Christina, dating Gary, who had remodeled the former couple's backyard.

"You know, it just took a lot of strength," Tarek told Entertainment Tonight in a recent interview.

According to police reports, Gary was also a witness to the May 2016 incident when authorities were called to the spouses' home in light of a "possibly suicidal male with a gun."

Christina and Tarek called the event that prompted their separation an "unfortunate misunderstanding" when publicly announcing their split in December of last year.


Christina and Gary's short-lived romance was "one of those things where you have to stay positive, stay strong, focus on the kids and just not think about it," Tarek shared.

Christina and Gary, however, called it quits on their relationship last month due to outside pressures, according to an Us Weekly source.

Her representative, Cassandra Zebisch, told the magazine a couple weeks back that the HGTV star is "single" because "being in a relationship is the last thing on her mind" right now considering Tarek filed for divorce on January 9 and the estranged spouses are trying to continue working together amicably on Flip or Flop's seventh season.

"She is taking this time to focus on her children and herself," Zebisch had said.

Tarek told ET that he heard about Christina and Gary's breakup when the rest of the world did.


"I found out from the Internet, you know? I do not ask personal questions," Tarek said, revealing that he never discussed the situation with Christina.

"I do not want to get involved. The best thing for me is to focus on myself, and not worry about what she is doing. So, the only reason I found out about the split is because it came out in the media."

Speaking of the media, Tarek has been the subject of nasty rumors. An insider previously told Us that Tarek intentionally tries to piss Christina off on the set of Flip or Flop, like "bragging loudly about sleeping with girls."

The insider said Christina -- who was rumored to be unfaithful in her marriage at one point -- believes her ex is an "absolute pig."

"We're not going to say it was easy," Tarek explained of continuing a professional relationship with Christina amid all the hype of their divorce.


"You know, it's like anything -- there are challenges in life. We love filming; that's our job. We've been doing it a long time and we love releasing a good product for our fans. We just had to fight through it and do the best we could, and I think it turned out great."

As for what the future holds for Tarek career-wise, he told ET he is "quite excited."

"It's been a very interesting process -- a lot of ups and downs -- and I'm finally in a good place," he insisted. "I'm focusing on myself and improving myself and being the best dad possible, but was [the split] difficult on me? Yes, absolutely."






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski