By most conventional standards, the gathering should have been awkward: a man, his current wife, his ex-wife, and her new boyfriend — all sharing a pool in the desert over Easter weekend. Instead, the photos that Christina Haack and Heather Rae El Moussa posted this week looked like something from a well-cast family vacation ad.
The stars of HGTV’s “The Flip Off” gave their followers a sun-drenched look at what modern, intentional co-parenting can actually look like — and the response from fans was immediate and warm.
Haack and Heather Rae both brought their vacation style to the poolside setting, framed by desert mountains in the background.
Haack dressed in a vibrant yellow triangle bikini paired with a matching mesh sarong and a tan cowboy hat — a look that struck a balance between resort-ready and Western-tinged. Heather Rae went with a textured pastel pink bandeau bikini accented by a gold ring detail and a coordinating pink wrap — softer in palette but equally striking.
Alongside them: Tarek El Moussa and Haack’s boyfriend, Christopher Larocca — the foursome completing a family picture that their followers have come to recognize as genuinely unusual in the best possible way.
The Kids at the Center of It All
Beyond the couple photos, the stars shared a wider group shot that captured the full scope of the blended family gathering — roughly a dozen people, children included, enjoying the holiday together.
Haack and Tarek share two children: daughter Taylor, 15, and son Brayden, 10. Also present was Hudson, 6 — Haack’s youngest son — and Tristan, 3, the son Tarek and Heather Rae welcomed together.
Heather Rae captioned the collection simply: “Easter in the desert 2026 🐰🌸🥚”
The comments filled quickly. “LLOOVVEE how you’re all blended and HAPPY. That is FAMILY,” one follower wrote. Another suggested the women “write about coparenting and cofamilying” because of how naturally they “flow together.”
Behind the Polished Photos: Heather Rae Gets Real
While the Easter images projected ease and harmony, Heather Rae stepped behind the curated surface this week in a candid TikTok video that resonated with a different kind of audience.
Reflecting on her seven-year relationship with Tarek, she was direct about what it has actually required.
“Tarek and I are not perfect. We have had our fair share of challenges like every marriage does,” she told her followers. “I think that when you’re with someone for a long time… everyone goes through things. You bring different traumas into your relationship.”
Despite those “hard seasons,” Heather Rae said what has sustained the marriage is something she identified early: Tarek’s consistent, deliberate romantic effort — and her decision to pay attention to it.
She recalled their earliest dates with notable specificity. For their second date, Tarek arrived with Valentino heels in the correct size. He later flew her to Hawaii and arranged a private dinner at Jurassic Park. At the time, he was managing a packed filming schedule and co-parenting responsibilities — and he still showed up.
“Men will do anything if they want you,” she said.
Heather Rae also shared that she had not made it easy for him from the start — testing his commitment with a deliberately narrow opening.
“I gave him one night. I said, ‘I’m available Monday, eight o’clock, you can come to LA, I’ll only have drinks with you, nothing else, no dinner.’ I was just like, ‘That’s it, take it or leave it. You want to see me, you will move mountains.'”
He did.
Her message to followers drew from that experience: “If they’re not working hard to be romantic and loving in the beginning, they’re not going to put that effort in the long term of your relationship.”
For Heather Rae, that early standard has held. She noted that Tarek still sends her flowers on “random Tuesdays” with no occasion other than to tell her she is an amazing mother.
From Rivals to Colleagues to Friends
The relationship between Heather Rae and Christina Haack — which could easily have been defined by tension — has instead become one of the more unusual and quietly inspiring dynamics in reality television.
The two women have moved from occupying opposite sides of Tarek’s life to becoming colleagues and genuine friends. Haack has previously praised Heather Rae’s work ethic and the care she brings to her role as stepmother to Taylor and Brayden. Heather Rae has spoken warmly about Haack in return.
That relationship has also become a professional asset. The three — Haack, Tarek, and Heather Rae — are currently in production on Season 2 of “The Flip Off,” the HGTV competition series in which the two couples go head-to-head to see who can execute the most profitable home renovation. It takes an unusual kind of maturity to turn the most complex corners of your personal history into primetime television. By all accounts, this group has managed it.
“The Flip Off” Season 2 is slated to air later this year.
The Easter desert photos from Christina Haack and Heather Rae El Moussa landed on social media and drew the kind of reaction that genuine warmth tends to produce — appreciation, a little disbelief, and a lot of comments about how rare it is to see this done well. Behind the matching bikinis and blended family group shots is something more substantive: two women who chose to build something constructive out of a situation that could have gone very differently. Heather Rae’s TikTok this week offered a reminder that the ease on display didn’t come without effort. It rarely does.
