Christina Haack reveals the secret of her unconventional friendship with two ex-husbands (Exclusive)

Christina Haak is used to reconciling after messy divorces, but she says it takes effort from both parties.

In an exclusive interview for PEOPLE’s cover story earlier this month, Haak, 42, opened up about her unconventional friendship with her first ex-husband Tarek El Moussa, 44, and her second ex-husband Ant Anstead, 46.

The HGTV star went through a rocky divorce with both of her ex-husbands, but was eventually able to develop a smooth co-parenting relationship with both of them, and even spent time together as a blended family. She has daughter Taylor, 15, and son Brayden, 10, with El Moussa, and son Hudson, 6, with Anstead.

“It’s really necessary for everyone in a co-parenting situation to want to make it work,” she tells PEOPLE. “People text me all the time, like, ‘How did you do that? My husband’s ex-boyfriend hates me,’ or, ‘There’s no way I could be with my ex-husband.'”

Haak is currently starring alongside Tarek and his wife Heather Rey El Moussa on her new HGTV show, The Flip Off. The trio are great co-parents, but Herk has a strong friendship with Heather, despite a rocky start to their relationship.

Haak and her new boyfriend, Chris Larocca (who they started dating in October 2024), enjoy spending time together as a couple and often go on double dates together.

“It takes all of us. There are four of us in this situation right now: me, my boyfriend Chris, Tarek and Heather. We all want to get along,” she added. “We all work hard to get along.”

She also believes that one trait both she and Tarek have in common helped them completely overcome the vicious cycle caused by their divorce.

“I’m good at letting go of the past, and so is Tarek. We can literally get over something in like half a second and never want to talk about it again,” she said. “So I think it’s just a matter of maturity and it’s easy to put the kids first and then think about what comes after.”

As for her amazing co-parenting relationship with her second husband, Haak candidly talks about how her third divorce in 2024 actually brought her and Anstead closer together.

“I think my relationship with everyone has gotten better. When Josh[Hall]and I split up, Ant and I hit it off right away, and he said, ‘I want to co-parent Hudson, like you and Tarek do.'” Not exactly those words, but he said, ‘I want to have a great co-parenting relationship with you,'” she shared.

Hark and Anstead’s reconciliation comes after the former lovers, who split in September 2020, were embroiled in a bitter custody battle over their son. Although they finally reconciled in November 2022, their relationship remained strained for years.

But Haak said they agreed to a “fresh start” and are now enjoying spending time together again as co-parents.

“We go to soccer games, we sit next to each other at school, we have birthday parties together, and I thank God because, Hudson, I would be so sad if I didn’t have something like that with us when I grew up,” she says.

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The designer added that while some may find her unconventional relationship with her ex-husbands “weird”, she thinks the opposite is true.

“I think my kids love knowing that anyone can come here and have Christmas with us and have parties. So it’s great for them. It’s not weird at all. It’s great.”