Thus far, the Tarek El Moussa and Christina El Moussa break-up has been surprisingly peaceful and amicable.
We were taken by surprise when the Flip or Flop stars announced their separation last month, and were then disappointed when Tarek filed for divorce this week, ensuring no reconciliation.
But we’ve been encouraged by how maturely this split has been handled.
Is that about to change, however? Is some mud about to be slung? Are the bitter insults about the fly?
We can’t help but wonder on the heels of the revelation that Tarek is actually seeking spousal support from Christina.
In court documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight, the Flip or Flop anchor has asked his estranged wife to provide for him finally.
He is also requesting of the court that his ability to award alimony to Christina be terminated.
Finally, the legal papers confirm that Tarek is would like Christina pay for his attorney’s fees.
The divorce petition was filed on Monday at the Orange County Superior Court and include a request by Tarek for joint legal and physical custody of his and Christina’s two children, six-year-old daughter Taylor and one-year-old son Brayden.
That makes sense, of course.
It would be strange if Tarek did not want joint custody of his kids.
But what do we make of his financial demands?
Is he pressing Christina for money because he’s angry over the way she’s moved on?
Within days of the couple’s separation news going viral, we learned that Christina is dating Gary Anderson, the family contractor.
The romance appears to be quite serious.
“Tarek feels betrayed by Gary, as he had worked for both him and Christina and feels like he should not have gotten involved in their relationship,” a source tells HollywoodLife, adding:
“He believes that things might have panned out differently if Gary had chosen not to get close to his wife.”
So there you supposedly have it.
Last month, the Internet learned of a frightening incident that took place between Christina and Tarek in May.
The then-married twosome got into an argument that resulted in Tarek storming out of their home and into the woods, taking a gun with him.
Christina was concerned for his safety and called the police.
Once they converged on Tarek, he said he was upset, but never had any kind of suicidal thoughts. He simply took the weapon with him as protection against animals.
After this unusual story went public, the HGTV stars released the following statement:
“Like many couples, we have had challenges in our marriage.
“We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago and the police were called to our house in an abundance of caution. There was no violence and no charges were filed.”
Tarek and Christina have appeared to remain on solid terms ever since.
According to People Magazine, they are still filming Flip or Flop together.
“The children are their number one priority and maintaining normalcy for them,” an insider tells this publication. “They will do anything for their children.”
That’s good to hear at least.
After taking a holiday hiatus, look for Tarek and Christina to keep shooting new episodes of their HGTV series together for seven or eight more months.
They are under contract to do so. They share two kids. They will be part of each other’s lives for a long time moving forward.
“We plan to continue our professional life together by being professional, by doing our jobs well, by being prepared and by working hard,” the former couple has also said in the recent past.
Might Tarek’s divorce demands change these plans, however?
Stay tuned!
