Flip or Flop stars Christina and Tarek El Moussa know that whatever’s going on in their personal lives, the (HGTV) show must go on.
So must their ancillary business dealings, which are very much intertwined with one another despite an ugly divorce playing out in private.
The estranged Flip or Flop stars and parents of two young kids reunited on Friday at the 2017 Investor Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This marks the couple’s first official joint public appearance since announcing their split following a shocking report by TMZ last December.
“Me and #christina on the #big #stage having #fun and teaching folks how to #flip #houses!!” Tarek captioned a photo of the pair on stage.
He added, “#goodtimes #lovespeakingtogether.”
Not as much as Tarek loves hashtags. Wow.
Christina shared a similar photo from the event on her Instagram page, this time of the duo posing with some of their investor students.
For business’ sake, they put on a good front …
“Fun event at #successpath #investor #summit … great meeting our students,” Christina captioned the photo with her husband above.
Christina was recently spotted with Gary Anderson, her contractor boyfriend, but sources say she’s keeping work and family a priority.
The same goes for Tarek, according to people close to him.
“They remain committed to their children and co-parenting,” one source close to Christina. “Their children are their number one priority.”
“They’ll always communicate,” adds the family insider.
“They’re going to be cordial for the best of their family.”
Are they going to be, though? From what we hear …
Last spring, one decidedly messed up incident resulted in the quasi-celebrity spouses calling it quits in hostile – but very quiet – fashion.
Before the news leaked and both sides started doing damage control with gusto, they were content to act like nothing was amiss at all.
They want to continue making their show, and their happy union was central to their rise to the top of the HGTV real estate porn heap.
The darkness bubbling just beneath the surface couldn’t stay hidden forever, though, and theories about what went wrong keep surfacing.
None of those stories paint a pretty picture, either.
Last week, a report published by In Touch Weekly claimed that rumors of Christina cheating on Tarek are true, and that’s not even all …
Specifically, the magazine alleges that Tarek caught her sending explicit text messages to Anderson, a contractor they previously employed.
In the explosive fight that ensued, after which Tarek stormed out of the couple’s house with a gun, he reportedly pulled it on Christina.
Later, when questioned by the cops, he said he only left to blow off steam, and took the gun in case he encountered any wild animals.
Tarek surrendered his firearms (all were legally registered), but no charges were filed as he and Christina both called it a “misunderstanding.”
That’s common knowledge at this point, but the interesting part of the celebrity gossip site’s report pertaining to the alleged cheating:
Even after word of her infidelity got out, few who knew the couple blamed Christina for the dissolution of the couple’s marriage. Why?
Sources say Tarek made a habit of demeaning his wife in public with insane displays of anger and seemed to enjoy chastising her at work.
“When she said the wrong thing and they had to do a retake, he got pissed. He often made her cry,” an insider said of the on-set tension.
Sadly, it seems such treatment was no uncommon, and HGTV crew members working with them simply learned to look the other way.
“Tarek found humor in humiliating his wife in repeated verbal attacks,” one source said, adding that Tarek threatened to rape Christina.
“Some of his bad behavior was even caught on camera [in footage that never aired]. Tarek called Christina a ‘whore’ on set many times.”
This marriage clearly can’t end fast enough, and sadly for the El Moussas, keeping up the facades may become increasingly hard.
