Co-parenting is a hard enough feat behind closed doors — never mind when you have spotlights shining on you and your family. Literally. HGTV stars Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack aren’t your average co-parents. Despite their dramatic split in 2016, the TV personalities signed on to film The Flip Off, an HGTV show where Haack faces off against El Moussa and his wife Heather Rae to see who can buy, renovate, and flip a house for the biggest profit.
So yeah, the couple’s professional and personal lives are intertwined in quite a unique way. Even with the constant scrutiny and background noise — especially given Haack’s tumultuous dating history — El Moussa says they have figured out a way to successfully coparent their kids, Taylor, 14 and Brayden, 9.
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El Moussa — who also shares 2-year-old son Tristan with Heather — recently appeared on the Trading Secrets podcast and spoke with host Jason Tartick about their coparenting strategy. It’s important to him that he doesn’t let his “adult feelings, emotions, insecurities, and egos” get in the way.
“No matter what, I will always do whatever it takes to protect my babies,” he said, per House Beautiful.
“Time has helped a lot,” El Moussa continued. ” … But even if we hated each other, I would still do it for my babies.”
Putting your ego aside with a former partner is not an easy thing to do, so it’s so nice to hear that El Moussa and Haack are doing just that for the sake of their kids. El Moussa conceded that for him, it’s important to know that he “did the right thing,” “was a good person,” and “brought value to the world” when the time comes for him to “leave this planet.”
“Another thing that’s important to me is making sure I am the best parent possible to make sure my kids have the best shot at the best life possible,” the dad of three said.
Of course, things can get even trickier when a new partner enters the mix, but Heather recently divulged the “really hard” thing Haack did to make her feel welcome as Taylor and Brayden’s stepmom. Somehow, she showed impressive restraint and “never micromanaged.”
“That was really nice that I wasn’t told what to do, how to do it,” the Selling Sunset star explained. “I was able to just kind of come in and figure things out on my own and kind of at my own time.”
“ … So it wasn’t like I was coming in to replace her,” she continued. “I was just coming in to be added love and help take care of them and help raise them.”
And when everyone can put their “adult feelings, emotions, insecurities, and egos” aside, that’s what you get: Added love for the kiddos.
These celebrity exes are getting co-parenting right.
