Heather Rae El Moussa is showing the world how to have a happy blended family, and now she’s revealing how they got to such a great place.
The HGTV designer sat down with “Dancing With the Stars‘” Peta Murgatroyd as the very first guest for her new podcast, “The Penthouse With Peta.”
The two tv stars spent a lot of time talking about kids and relationships, and eventually the subject turned to stepkids.
Peta asked Heather, “How are you going as a stepmom? How is that?”
“It’s great,” Heather responded. “I’m so thankful for them. Because they’re the ones that made me want to have a baby. And they welcomed me.”
Heather El Moussa Says She Bonded with Tarek’s Daughter Taylor Right Away
Heather told Peta that of Tarek El Moussa’s two children who he shares with ex-wife Christina Haack, Brayden was the tougher one to get close to.
“I didn’t get close with Brayden… I met him when he was three, I got closer with him, because, you know, three-years-old? I was a stranger to him. So I’d say around five is when him and I really started getting close,” Heather revealed.
But stepdaughter Taylor was another matter. “My stepdaughter Taylor, she was 8. She welcomed me. I think she was ready for me,” Heather said.
“I think because Tarek was single, he was alone, I think she knew he was not as happy. He didn’t want a woman but she was like ‘I want a woman…,” Heather explained. “So I put her to bed every night that we had them, we really connected and now she’s almost 15.”
Peta Tells Heather Her Blended Family is ‘Not Normal’
Since working with Christina Haack on their HGTV competition show “The Flip Off,” Heather and Christina have formed a tight bond of friendship that has made navigating the blended family much easier.
Tarek and Christina even go on family vacations with their kids, Christina and her boyfriend Chris Larocca.
But Peta Murgatroyd reminded Heather, “Your blended modern family is not usual, I mean it’s really not normal. I have many friends who are going through hell with blended families. Nobody likes each other… But for you, I feel like you have hit the jackpot with everything. The kids, his ex-wife, you’ve really got a good thing going on. Do you have any advice?”
Heather responded, “We always say the kids are first. The kids are innocent beings in all of this. Tarek and Christina were really good about never bashing each other even during the hard times.”
But Heather admitted it wasn’t always this friendly. “You know, they would do portions where they’d hate each other and they wouldn’t speak unless they were on camera.”
“When I came into their life, they were still filming ‘Flip or Flop..” and I had to navigate becoming like a mom and finding my place… and the ex-wife was still very much in his life and they were filming a show together.”
Heather El Moussa Says ‘The Flip Off’ Changed Everything
Heather says while she and Christina were always nice to each other, “The Flip Off” let them get to know each other on a deeper level.
“I think she wasn’t Tarek’s ex-wife, I mean, we are friends now, but we’d be like girlfriends hanging out all the time,” Heather revealed. “And we do, we talk all the time, we even talk about relationship stuff. But we weren’t always this close.”
“I think that it just took time, so my advice is put the kids first and then time heals a lot of things,” Heather said.
