The Unexpected Role Tarek El Moussa Played In Christina Haack's Nasty Split From Josh Hall

Christina Haack's first ex-husband, Tarek El Moussa, helped give "The Flip Off" a major makeover. Speaking to People in October 2025, the "Christina in the Country" host revealed that she had no desire to collaborate with her then-husband Josh Hall on the spin-off show because their marriage had already been on the rocks for years by that point. Haack not only conveyed her wishes to the network but also to El Moussa directly, who responded with a crack about how her marriage would be over before the credits rolled on their second episode. However, when she and Hall actually called it quits, the HGTV star's first ex-husband stepped up to the plate to support Haack. In another People interview, she revealed that while she processed the end of her third marriage, El Moussa dealt with the professional end of things, confirming, "Tarek told our attorney and told the network for me that Josh would no longer be a part of the show." 

To better understand the dynamics between these exes and co-stars, The List reached out to Kimberly Miller (JD, CFP®, LMFT) founder and chief divorce educator, PartWise, who proclaimed that although it's rare for former couples to function as a team again, it's not impossible. The expert believes El Moussa and Haack likely did some major "intentional emotional work" to improve their post-divorce relationship. She elaborated, "Co-parenting successfully or maintaining a professional relationship post-divorce takes boundaries, maturity, and shifting from a romantic partnership to a team-oriented mindset." Miller also pointed out communication could make or break a fragile dynamic like theirs. To El Moussa and Haack's credit, they seem to be doing everything by her book.

During Kimberly Miller's exclusive chat with The List, she stated that Tarek El Moussa's support for Christina Haack during her divorce from Josh Hall was likely pretty "healing" for them both since, "It [was] a reminder that compassion [didn't] have to end with marriage." The empathy between the former couple, whom fans first met and fell in love with on hit HGTV show "Flip or Flop," was also apparent when they had a heart-to-heart in the January 2025 premiere of "The Flip Off." Through tears, Haack acknowledged that the end of their 7-year marriage hit her incredibly hard, explaining, "I felt like not only did I lose... We were best friends, but also I felt like I lost like, I need to be a full-time mom. And that really, really, really hurt me a lot and really affected me," (via People). 

Then, the "Christina on the Coast" host's first ex-husband confessed that he knew their split was a tragic detail of Haack's life and that he hadn't done much to make it any easier on her. Their impressively open conversation ultimately ended with the exes agreeing to put their tumultuous past behind them. It was a stark departure from the first post-divorce episode of "Flip or Flop," where El Moussa and Haack just couldn't play nice. The tension between the then-newly-separated co-hosts reached a fever pitch during the Season 7 premiere, in 2017, when El Moussa angrily told his ex-wife that he didn't appreciate her jokes about his love life. Over the following years, some of the most awkward post-divorce moments between El Moussa and Haack played out on the screen. Thankfully, the exes have since turned the page and are able to collaborate effectively again.