Tarek El Moussa found out about his exChristina’s December weddingwith the rest of the world — when a photo of the surprise ceremony appeared online. But his reaction was completely unexpected, even to him.
“It was actually the night they got married,” theFlip or Flopstar tells PEOPLE of the moment he learned she’d tied the knot with herBritish beau of just over a year,Ant Anstead. “I was sitting on the couch and then I started getting texts from people showing me a photo online of her wedding. That’s how I found out.”
Tarek El Moussa/Instagram
“When I first got them, I just sat there for a few minutes and thought about things, and it was kind of like a release. It was kind of like, I was really okay with it. I was happy with it,” he says.
He also decided to reach out to his former wife of seven years, with whomhe shares two children — Taylor, 8, and Brayden, 2. “I messaged both of them,” he says of Christina, who is changing her last name to Anstead, and Ant. “I said congratulations the same night.”
And they both replied, he says, with a simple, “Thank you.”
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After he and Christinasplit publicly under dramatic circumstancesin December 2016, Tarek says learning of Christina’s wedding helped him wrap up a chapter of his life.
“I think finding that out made me realize 100% closure,” he explains. “It was a moment of clarity, actually. I was at peace, it was weird.”
He also notes that the occasion actually inspired him to make some significant changes in his own life as a single dad. “It just kind of [made me realize] it’s time for me to work on me and keep going with my new life, which I’ve already done.”
Rich Lander/CHARD Photo
His ex’s love story even sparked the desire to seek out a serious relationship of his own.
“I’m still on my own, so maybe it’s time to make some changes. Maybe it’s time to look for love. I don’t know,” he says, noting, it’s “the opposite effect of what most would think.”
source: people.com
