How Everything Turned Around for Christina Hall
Christina Hall wouldn't say she has commitment issues. But with the right offer, she can be convinced to move on. Literally.
Because while she, realtor husband Josh Hall and her three kids are quite settled in their current home, a natural light-filled Newport Beach, Calif., spread, "we're in the real estate industry," the designer reasoned in an exclusive interview with E! News. "We make money when we sell houses."
And each time she transforms a luxury home into an even better version of itself, "then all of a sudden it's like, we get an off-market buyer and it's very hard to pass up that profit," she explained. "So then I have to sit down with the kids and be like, 'Hey guys, I know we don't want to move again, but is anyone else in favor of us finding different opportunities?'"
Thankfully her children—daughter Taylor, 12, son Brayden, 7 (with former costar Tarek El Moussa) and son Hudson, 3 (with ex Ant Anstead)—are very much chips off of her sleek marble block.
"To be honest, they're always like, 'Yeah, let's move,'" said Hall, noting they haven't left the confines of Orange County so that her kids can maintain their school and friendships. (Plus, the family is very much rooted in their Tennessee vacation home, with no plans to sell that country pad.)
"It's interesting," she said of her brood, "they like it too. It's a whole new adventure."
Most recently, she and Josh gave the kitchen of their current space a "modern organic-meets-Bali" glow-up for season five of HGTV's Christina on the Coast, premiering June 29. "Every house is fun and different and hopefully, we'll stay in this one for a bit longer," she noted. "But if we get the right price, who knows?"
Because Christina, 39, understands better than most how quickly things can flip around.
In a Mother's Day Instagram, the California native reflected on being "in a very bad place" a year earlier as she endured what she called "an extremely unnecessary custody battle" with Anstead and a health scare that led to her being diagnosed with mercury and lead poisoning. (Not to mention son Brayden's emergency Mother's Day surgery.)
"I think there's periods in everyone's life that are just super chaotic," she explained to E!. "And you just get hit with things over and over and over. And when you're in it, it just feels like you're not going to get out of it. But then something will happen to kind of shift your perspective and remind you that probably these things are happening for a reason, and they will get better."
For Christina, that nudge came from the owner of the rental property they were bunking in between moves.
"She just spoke life back into me," Christina said of their unvarnished chat about blended families. "And from there, everything turned around. And it's been better ever since."
Having stripped everything down to the studs, so to speak, she's taking her time with the rebuild.
Juggling her business, her HGTV shows (season one of Christina in the Country aired this past winter) and the production company she launched with Josh, "I have a lot that I'm thinking about doing," she said. (On that list: Brainstorming shows where she can contribute her talents off-camera.)
"I'm just seeing what direction things unfold in," Christina continued. "Things are going great, but I feel like there's something new on the horizon. And it'll be interesting to see what plays out. I'm just not exactly sure and I'm fine with that right now."
Credit her milestone birthday on the horizon, her "dream man" of a husband or that nudge from a kind stranger, but Christina isn't really letting a lot bother her these days.
"I think that just comes with age," she acknowledged of finding ways to brush off any less-than-complimentary words from strangers. "You know, 12 years ago, I definitely took it harder. Now, to be totally honest, it takes a lot to make me upset."
While her claws will still come up for hate "that affects me as a mom or my children," she noted, "besides that, I just don't really care. I know who I am."
Christina On The Coast premieres Thursday, June 29th on HGTV and Max.