The Stunning Transformation Of Christina Hall

Christina Hall has become one of HGTV's most popular personalities, thanks to the success of hit HGTV renovation series "Flip or Flop." Launching in 2013, "Flip or Flop" followed Hall and then-husband Tarek El Moussa as they purchased run-down properties and transformed them into stunning dream homes they could then sell at a profit. 

When the couple filed for divorce, the show continued as the exes maintained their professional relationship even if their personal one had crumbled. Following the split, it didn't take long for Hall to bounce back, with the next few years bringing a new husband, the arrival of a baby, and a new HGTV hit of her very own.

Christina Hall's story is one of intense highs and lows, and her journey from anonymity to television stardom has been far from typical. There are even diehard fans who might not know about her story. Find out more about this fascinating media personality by exploring the stunning transformation of Christina Hall.

Christina Hall was born Christina Meursinge Haack in California's Orange County on July 9, 1983. The oldest of two, Hall has a sister, Carly Haack, who is ten years her junior. Despite the age gap, the two sisters have a close connection.. 

As a teenager, Hall attended Canyon High School in Anaheim, and she has kept up with her high school friends since leaving school behind. According to E! News, in 2017, she attended an Anaheim Ducks home game at the Honda Center, where a source said she hung out with some high school pals. The tipster noted that Hall and her old friends appeared to enjoy spending time together at the game. Sounds like Hall formed lifelong friendships as a teen. 

After high school, Hall headed to San Diego State University. Upon graduating, she wasted no time jumping into the business world by landing a job in a real estate office. It was there, she detailed in a 2014 promotional video for "Flip or Flop," that the then-22-year-old met the man who would be her future husband and TV co-star.

While working in a real estate office, Christina Hall met Tarek El Moussa, an ambitious young realtor who earned his real estate license when he was just 21 years old. "We met at work and we've always been working together," she told Entertainment Tonight of how she met her future husband. Their romance was a whirlwind. "The day Tarek and I officially started dating, which was October 9, 2006, we moved in together," Hall explained in an interview with Good Housekeeping.

Hall embraced El Moussa's philosophy of dreaming big. As she told Good Housekeeping, the pair crafted a dream board that they placed in their office, featuring a wedding ring, an extravagant home with a pool, a Bentley, a private jet, and a Mercedes. "The weird part is, by the time I turned 31, we had all of it," she said.

In 2009, the couple got married in a ceremony held on Coronado Island off the coast of San Diego. Their professional lives and personal lives were officially fully intertwined. As Hall noted in a 2014 promo video for HGTV, "We started our life working together." 

Hit hard by the recession of the late 2000s, Christina Hall was among many in real estate who were affected when the housing bubble popped. As she and then-husband Tarek El Moussa told The Orange County Register, they were forced to downgrade their lifestyle significantly. They moved out of their home and into an apartment they shared with a roommate.

That was when Hall first got into house-flipping with El Moussa, buying houses at foreclosure auctions, fixing them up, and selling them at a profit. Hall, El Moussa, and their business partner scooped up their first investment property for a little over $100,000 and turned it around for a $34,000 profit.

Hall's house-flipping endeavors with her partners were not easy, and every now and then, there'd be extra costs they didn't initially anticipate. Hall recalled one property they purchased in which the former residents, who had been evicted, poured concrete in toilets and damaged the windows and floors. 

After bouncing back from the recession with their house-flipping success, Tarek El Moussa and Christina Hall thought their lives as husband-and-wife flippers would make a great premise for an HGTV series. According to The Orange County Register, El Moussa decided on a whim to make a demo tape of the pair. As Hall told Good Housekeeping in 2017, she was seven months pregnant at the time.

After sending out the demo, the couple received a response from Pie Town Productions, which produces such HGTV hits as "House Hunters" and spinoffs like "House Hunters International." The company was interested and signed the pair to buy, renovate, and flip 13 houses in 13 episodes. The show was titled "Flip or Flop," with the Register revealing the couple was paid $10,000 per episode for that first season. 

As Hall recalled to Good Housekeeping, it all happened so quickly she could barely process it. "I just remember driving to an auction and thinking there's just no way this is really going to happen," she said. "Then, all of the sudden, HGTV wanted a pilot [later named 'Flip or Flop'], and the pilot got picked up and it was a series, overnight."

In 2013, a registered nurse named Ryan Reade was watching a marathon of "Flip or Flop" episodes on HGTV when she noticed what appeared to be a lump on Tarek El Moussa's neck. "I thought it was something that needed to be brought to his attention," Reade told "Today." So, she contacted the show's producers urging El Moussa to see a doctor. When the "Flip or Flop" star was examined, he received a sobering diagnosis: El Moussa had stage 2 thyroid cancer. To make matters worse, he was also diagnosed with testicular cancer, although he didn't make that diagnosis public until years later.

Understandably, this period proved to be a trying one for Christina Hall, particularly given how the couple was also raising a 2-year-old daughter in the midst of her husband's cancer treatments. "I was just feeling totally overwhelmed about losing him, him having to go through treatments, our daughter," she admitted to "Today."

While viewers watched Christina Hall banter her way through home flips on HGTV with Tarek El Moussa as "Flip or Flop" grew in popularity, the reality that they faced when the cameras turned off was very different. In the midst of El Moussa's cancer treatment, the two were also trying to have another baby via in vitro fertilization. In 2014, Hall became pregnant, only to suffer a miscarriage. She told People in 2017, "We went through a lot in a short amount of time."

After that heartbreak, Hall finally conceived, and in August 2015, she gave birth to son Brayden, as reported by PopSugar. However, what should have been a joyous time was far more fraught than outsiders may have realized. As Hall told People, the demands of their business and a hectic "Flip or Flop" schedule led her to return to work just four weeks after giving birth. "It was too soon for me," she admitted. "I was overwhelmed. The tension between me and Tarek was high."

As she revealed to People, communication with her husband had become difficult as they found themselves drifting apart. "It got to the point where we weren't even driving to set together," Hall recalled.

While Christina Hall's personal life was filled with the turmoil unleashed by her husband's cancer diagnosis, a new baby, and a demanding work schedule, "Flip or Flop" was becoming a major hit for HGTV. 

During the show's 2nd season in 2014, Multichannel News reported that a broadcast of the show garnered its highest rating to date, attracting 1.7 million viewers for a single episode. Not only was that a new record for an episode of "Flip or Flop," but it was also the network's highest-rated primetime episode in a year. 

Ratings just kept on growing. According to a subsequent report from Multichannel News, viewership continued to climb, with more than 16 million total viewers watching the 4th season of "Flip or Flop." In fact, the show had officially become the highest-rated cable series in its Thursday night time slot among viewers 25-54. There was no denying that "Flip or Flop" was quickly becoming one of HGTV's most popular series, and Christina Hall was among the network's most recognizable and beloved personalities. Yet in the midst of all that success, a storm was brewing behind the scenes that threatened everything.

In May 2016, Us Weekly reported that 11 deputies were called to Christina Hall's home after she and then-husband Tarek El Moussa had an altercation and El Moussa went to a hiking trail near their house with a gun. There were concerns about El Moussa's emotional state, but according to Us Weekly, he insisted "he had no intention of hurting himself." Police seized several weapons from the home.

In December of that year, the couple jointly announced they had separated. "Like many couples, we have had challenges in our marriage," the statement read. "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." The statement also revealed they attempted marriage counseling, but had ultimately decided to call it quits. "We will continue to work through this process civilly and cooperatively," the statement concluded, "and plan to continue our professional life together."

Looking back at that turbulent time, Hall told People she felt completely overwhelmed. "I felt like I was drowning. I was just trying to stay above water, just doing whatever I could to just get through the day."

Tarek El Moussa filed for divorce in January 2017, although he and Christina Hall had secretly separated several months earlier. When the papers were finally filed, she told People that she didn't feel sadness. Instead she felt relief. "I think the separation process begins long before people actually separate," Hall explained. "So by the time we officially did, I felt like a weight was lifted off me." Plus there were a few reasons why the "Flip or Flop" stars divorced.

Hall tried to look at the positive side of the situation. Instead of seeing an ending, she preferred to think of her situation as a beginning. "It's invigorating to know I am starting over," she added. "It's fun to be able to create my own destiny right now."

She expressed similar sentiments in an interview with Michael Strahan on "Good Morning America." "Despite everything, I'm doing really, really good," she said, insisting that their two children will always be their top priority. "We're just normal, nice people who just, you know, want to be the best parents and coworkers that we can be."

With Christina Hall and Tarek El Moussa divorced, fans of "Flip or Flop" were understandably curious about the fate of the show. While the couple's separation statement indicated they planned to stay on the series together, the question on viewers' minds was, "How's that gonna work?"

At the same time the couple announced their separation, HGTV issued a statement indicating that, despite whatever was taking place between the show's stars, it was business as usual for "Flip or Flop." "We admire and appreciate Tarek and Christina's great work on 'Flip or Flop,'" read a statement issued to Us Weekly. "When it comes to matters related to their own family, we respect their privacy and honor any decision that works best for them and their children. HGTV is currently airing episodes of 'Flip or Flop' and the series will continue production as scheduled."

As it turned out, HGTV actually leaned into the couple's split when promoting the 2018 season. "It's all new territory," said Hall in HGTV's press release at the time. "When our marriage fell apart it was more public than we could have imagined. But we're picking up the pieces and we'll still work together to support our kids."

When the 7th season of "Flip or Flop" debuted in 2018, all the off-camera drama that had been filling the pages of tabloids led to a lot of curiosity about whether or not Christina Hall and ex Tarek El Moussa would get along in front of the HGTV cameras. That curiosity led to even bigger ratings, with HGTV revealing that viewership for Season 7 had risen 18 percent over the previous season. The co-stars, it seemed, were more popular divorced than they were married.

In fact, the show had become so successful that the network announced it was ordering 15 more episodes for that season. "We're eager to see how they continue to run their flipping business, co-parent their children and start new chapters in their professional and personal lives," said HGTV president Allison Page in the announcement.

Ironically, the ex-spouses actually got along better after their divorce than they did when they were married. "Tarek and I are in a really good place right now," Hall told E! News. As she told Good Housekeeping, despite the split, she and her ex still managed to work well together. "We met at work, and we actually probably get along best at work," she explained.

At the end of 2017, Christina Hall met British TV host Ant Anstead through mutual friends, and sparks flew. They were a full-fledged couple when she sent him a sweet Instagram greeting to mark his 39th birthday in March 2018. In December of that year, the couple tied the knot in a surprise wedding ceremony, to which Christina Hall wore a totally unique wedding dress. As she later wrote on Instagram, "Life has a funny way of letting things fall into place when you least expect it."

Hall and Anstead blended their families, with her two children and his two children all moving in together into a new home. "All of the kids are so excited," she told People. "I love all the chaos of a full house." Hall also took Anstead's last name. 

Meanwhile, the couple had even more news to share when they later revealed they were expecting their first child together. In September 2019, the Ansteads welcomed a son. "Ant and I are so excited to welcome Hudson London Anstead into the world," she wrote on Instagram along with a photo of their new arrival. "Our hearts are SO full of love and joy!" 

After landing a new husband, welcoming a new baby, and buying a new home, Christina Hall then moved on to launching her own show for HGTV. While she and ex-husband Tarek El Moussa would continue to film "Flip or Flop," she debuted her solo effort, "Christina on the Coast," in spring 2019. There was no house-flipping in the new show, which instead focused on her fledgling design business, with Hall using her flair for creative design to reinvent spaces in clients' homes. 

The show also offered viewers something that "Flip or Flop" didn't: a glimpse into her personal life, including behind-the-scenes footage of her wedding to second husband Ant Anstead. "I had a lot going on last year, and I thought it would be interesting to show a little bit more of my real life," she told the New York Post.

Viewers loved what they saw, and "Christina on the Coast" proved to be a ratings smash, drawing 12 million total viewers in its debut season. In August 2019, Christina Hall took to Instagram to reveal that the network had ordered a second round. "SO BEYOND excited," she wrote of the Season 2 renewal.

Through all of Christina Hall's ups and downs, there's been one constant in her life: best friend Cassie Zebisch. The BFFs have known each other for decades. Zebisch is not only Hall's publicist, but she's also godmother to the "Flip or Flop" star's daughter, Taylor El Moussa

Back in 2015, Hall took to Instagram to share a throwback photo of the duo in the back of a limo to celebrate Zebisch's birthday. "True friends are hard to find... I am lucky to have you by my side through thick and thin!!" Hall wrote in the caption, adding, "This shouldn't need to be stated but this is an OLD PHOTO!!!!"

When Hall launched "Christina on the Coast" for HGTV, the first project she took on was for Zebisch, who revealed on Instagram that the designer was transforming her "childhood home into a gorgeous California Contemporary dream home." Describing what it was like to be on camera with her bestie, Zebisch told House Beautiful the process was organic. "Christina and I have such good chemistry in real life, and we just did our thing, like we do every day together," she said. Clearly, once you're in with Christina Hall, you're in for life.

While Christina Hall's fans saw a picture of domestic bliss, her marriage to Ant Anstead was crumbling behind the scenes. That came to light in September 2020, when she took to Instagram to announce their relationship was over. "Ant and I have made the difficult decision to separate," she wrote.

A week later, she issued a lengthy follow-up post addressing the split, accompanying a glum-looking selfie. "I never thought I would have one divorce let alone two," she wrote. "I never thought I would have 2 baby daddies — but sometimes life throws us curve balls." While admitting her life was challenging at the moment, she added, "I choose to look at these challenges as opportunities to grow. So while some may judge me and throw around rumors about me, most of you support me. ... I'm messy, I'm real and I'm working on healing."

Ant Anstead soon offered his first comment on the breakup. While Hall wrote that they had mutually agreed to separate, Anstead indicated the decision wasn't his. "I have remained silent while holding on to hope. I never gave up on us," he wrote on Instagram. "I pray Christina's decision brings her happiness." Anstead and Hall went through a messy custody battle and finally reached an agreement in December 2022. 

In a 2020 Instagram post that's since been deleted, Christina Hall opened up about the state of her health. "I have autoimmune conditions," she wrote (via House Beautiful), later revealing that she'd been diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease, a condition in which the thyroid is attacked by the immune system. Interviewed by People, she detailed some of the symptoms she'd experienced that led to the diagnosis. "Five years ago I didn't feel great," she said. "I'd have brain fog or constantly feel like I was in fight-or-flight mode, but I just thought, 'Well, I'm stressed, so this is how I should feel.'"

In another Instagram post, she shared the laundry list of health woes she'd been having, theorizing they may potentially be related to her breast implants. "Some of my issues include: Inflammation, autoimmune issues (Hashimoto's disease, PCOS, Raynaud's syndrome), unexplained skin rashes, joint and muscle pain, dry eyes, GI issues, SIBO, acid reflux, brain fog, hormone imbalances, swollen lymph nodes and adrenal fatigue," she wrote. 

She followed up with another health update, which she shared via Instagram Story (via People). As she explained, tests revealed that she was suffering from both mercury and lead poisoning, and also had an excess of bacteria within her small intestine. Hall suspects her work on HGTV negatively impacted her health. "Most likely from all the gross houses I've been in [all the bad flips]," she said.

Following her divorce from second husband Ant Anstead, Christina Hall began dating realtor Joshua Hall, whom she'd met a few years earlier at a real estate conference. In April 2022, TMZ reported that the couple had secretly tied the knot, obtaining documents indicating that she'd taken her new husband's surname. She confirmed she'd wed a third time, in a small civil ceremony, in the 2022 season premiere of "Christina on the Coast." She explained why they'd chosen such a low-key approach. "At this point in my life, I really value privacy when I can get it," she said, as reported by People. "So Josh and I decided to do a courthouse ceremony, just the two of us. Something private, just for us. And then later we'll do a reception for the kids and family."

In September 2022, the Halls got married a second time, in a destination wedding in Maui. "Shared vows in front of family and our close friends," she wrote in the caption of a photo of the bride and groom kissing at sunset, which she shared on Instagram. "What an amazing night filled with love."

Hall later opened up about the Hawaiian nuptials during an interview with People. "Our reception overlooked Kapalua Bay, where I have so many wonderful memories growing up and vacationing there as a child with my parents," Hall told the magazine. "We kept it small and intimate with our family and closest friends."

It would be easy to assume that going through two divorces within a five-year period would be a stressful experience. According to Christina Hall, however, that hadn't necessarily been the case for her. In fact, she told Us Weekly that being twice-divorced had led her to become the most chill she'd ever been. "Things that I put up with in my 20s are things I'd never put up with in my 40s," she explained. "In my relationship right now, we're able to communicate, not get emotionally overwhelmed and speak nicely to each other. Some things come with maturity. It definitely helps."

That newfound maturity, she added, had also brought a certain degree of serenity to her temperament that hadn't really been present previously. "I'm also a lot calmer than I used to be," Hall pointed out. "Before, if someone pissed me off, I'd flip out."

Also contributing to the calmness she was experiencing is the Tennessee farmhouse that she and her new husband purchased, a second home where they and her kids could spend relaxing down time when they're not in California. "It's on 23 acres, super private and has everything I could imagine and more," she told People of the abode. 

With the 5th season of "Christina on the Coast" scheduled to debut sometime in 2024, viewers of the show can expect to see Christina Hall work her magic on the homes of several more clients. Among that number are a couple who hold a very special place in her heart: Hall's mom and dad. "I'm actually doing my parents' house this season," Hall divulged during a February 2024 interview with Parade, revealing that while the episode turned out particularly well, her parents weren't exactly dream clients. "And they actually didn't follow my advice," she quipped, "so that was fun."  

In fact, Hall pointed out that "they're my toughest client," and refused to take her advice "when it came to opening up their floor plan a bit." Of course, she added, she wasn't unaware that her parents would be challenging to work with, which explained why she'd "waited so long to take them on." 

Discussing her parents' reno in an Instagram post, Hall explained that the biggest order of business was updating their 1970s-era kitchen cabinets. The only reason she hadn't replaced the cabinets earlier was that, despite their vintage, they were still in pretty good shape; her thrifty folks didn't see the point in spending money they didn't need to.

The 2023 holiday season was an exciting one for Christina Hall — although not for the reasons that one might expect. That came to light in a social media post that she shared via Instagram Story, featuring several photos. In one, she can be seen displaying her left hand, with her palm wrapped up in a bandage. "Fun night," she wrote (as reported by Us Weekly). "Until I knocked over a martini glass and had to get stitches. Just in time for the holidays."

Despite the cut — which, given the fact that she received stitches, clearly necessitated a trip to the emergency room afterwards — Hall didn't let the injury dampen her holiday spirit. As the magazine reported, another of the photos that she posted featured Hall posing with four female friends and her husband, Joshua Hall, all displaying celebratory glasses of bubbly while enjoying a meal at chic Newport Beach restaurant Set Steak and Sushi. 

In addition to her aforementioned Tennessee farmhouse, Christina Hall also owns a lavish home in California, situated in the upscale Orange County enclave of Newport Beach. When she's not renovating the homes of others for "Christina on the Coast," she's been completing renovations on her Newport place, a 7,000 square-foot mansion that's as extravagant as fans would expect. 

In a special video for HGTV, Hall and her husband, Joshua Hall, welcomed viewers into the home for a tour of the $12 million home that the couple purchased in 2022. "What we're trying to do here is, like, basically take a super-modern house and really incorporate more of an organic it some organic, like, Bali vibes, which was sort of our original plant," she said of her vision for the home, which was still in the midst of renovation.  

In addition to the luxe home itself, the backyard boasts an array of high-end features, including a stunning swimming pool and large, barrel-shaped wood sauna, which was inspired by the spa in a hotel she once stayed while vacationing in Mexico. In addition to the sauna, another favorite spot is the home theater. "So this is a room that the kids love as well," she explained, highlighting the starry ceiling, comprised of numerous tiny lights, that even featured shooting stars.

Christina Hall shares two children with her first ex-husband, Tarek El Moussa, and one with her second, Ant Anstead. Now that she's remarried to Joshua Hall — who doesn't have any children — are the couple planning to expand the family with another child? That's unlikely, Hall explained in an interview with People, admitting that "our hands are full" with her three kids. "We're done here. I can't even imagine that," she told the magazine. "I think my head would fall off. We're happy with the three. We're good."

In fact, she told Us Weekly, the not-having-kids conversation was one they had long early on. "Nope, that door is closed!" she said. "We talked about that when we met." As she explained, they're both so busy with their respective careers, as well as co-parenting her three, that they've come to treasure what little kid-free time they have for themselves. "When we don't have the kids we have time to ourselves, and that's something that makes our relationship strong," she added. 

Hall made similar statements on social media. As People reported, when one of her Instagram followers shared her hopes that the new year would bring her a fourth baby, she responded, "No shot. 3 is more than enough for us. Then, when another commenter asked, "Is that baby #4 I see peeping through?" she fired back with, "No. It's called not sucking in my tummy after having three kids."

There has been a lot of water under the bridge between Christina Hall and Tarek El Moussa since they divorced all those years ago. Since they demonstrated they were able to work together post-split when they continued "Flip or Flop" for HGTV, what are the odds that they might one day collaborate on another television project?

She revealed the answer during an Instagram Story Q&A with fans in October 2023. Per People, when one follower asked if she'd ever work with Tarek and Heather El Moussa, Hall gave a cryptic reply. "Never say never," she said alongside two emojis: one of a house, the other a trophy. 

That said, both couples all working together could be a big ask, given the sometimes rocky relationship between Hall and Tarek's second wife, Heather Rae El Moussa. "We've definitely had some ups and downs," the "Selling Sunset" star revealed in an interview with "Today," indicating they were able to overcome their differences by prioritizing the children. "I think she realized how much I love the kids and that they are No. 1 to me, over anything," she added. "So any drama aside, the kids are the most important thing to all of us."

Christina Hall has had much written about her on social media — some complimentary, some less so, and not at all true. When she does come across falsehoods spread about her online, however, she's been known to set the record straight. That was the case in a January 2024 Instagram post, in which she offered her take on a rumor about her that had been making the rounds. "Recently a coworker of mine told me a former employer told him I refused to work with women because I was some sort of?? Not sure what the word is because I don't identify with whatever it is," she wrote.

Hall not only shut that rumor down, she also took offense to the very idea that she wouldn't work with women. "I've always worked with females so that's a load of s*** and highly offensive," she fired back. 

For proof, she pointed to HGTV's "Christina on the Coast," pointing out how many women she's worked with on that show. "My current 'Christina on the Coast' team is the most fun and on point it's ever been and I see a lot of females here," she said, adding, "So to those who love to throw stones that's just your own internal struggle."

In early 2024, Tarek El Moussa began promoting his new book, "Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress — in Real Estate, Business and Life." In the book, he opened up about the circumstances surrounding the infamous 911 call and police intervention that preceded his divorce from Christina Hall. 

According to El Moussa, he and Hall had just had a blowout fight, and he felt the need for a bit of exercise to calm him down, and decided to go for a hike. He took a handgun in case he encountered any dangerous wild animals and hit the trail. Suddenly, a helicopter appeared and hovered around him. "A police officer leaning out of the helicopter pointed a rifle at me. Dust swirled around me from the spin of the blades, and a loudspeaker crackled, 'Get your hands in the air!'" he wrote, as excerpted by People. 

He was then taken back to his home. "That was the very last time we were together as a family: with Christina walking down the driveway, crying, and me sitting there in handcuffs, asking myself, 'What in the world is going on?'" he recalled.