Who Is Christina El Moussa's New Boyfriend?

The divorce of Tarek El Moussa from his wife and fellow Flip or Flop star Christina took a turn for the gasp-worthy when tabloids discovered she was hooking up with a man named Gary Anderson. This, of course, led gossip obsessives to wonder: just who is this dude, and how the heck did they get together so quickly? That's where Nicki Swift comes in. Check out all the facts and rumors we've uncovered about the man caught in the web of one of reality TV's messiest divorces.

Talk about awkward. According to In Touch Weekly, the El Moussas first met Anderson in 2015, when he was hired to renovate the couple's pool. Allegedly, things quickly took a turn for the suspicious. "Christina grew close to Gary," sources told In Touch. "Tarek was suspicious that she was getting involved with someone but had no concrete evidence." Tarek's hunch allegedly led to an incident in May 2016 that would change the El Moussa's relationship forever.

News that the El Moussas were divorcing didn't hit the tabloids until December 2016, but months prior, in May 2016, the couple's relationship reached a low point following an alleged incident in which police feared Tarek might attempt suicide. According to TMZ, 11 police deputies and a helicopter arrived at the couple's Orange County, Calif. home following "a call of a possibly suicidal male with a gun." Witness accounts claimed Tarek took a gun from his safe and fled to a nearby hiking trail, and moments later, Christina reportedly ran out of the house "crying and shaking." The TMZ report said police found Tarek "within minutes," and when they did, he claimed he simply wanted to "blow off some steam." As for the gun? Tarek allegedly told cops he "only brought the gun for mountain lions and rattlesnakes." Police later removed five guns from the family's home.

Sounds crazy, right? Well, try this one on for size: just a few days later, TMZ also reported that the witness who told cops everything just so happened to be Anderson. Details vary, but TMZ reported that Anderson was at a neighbor's house when the drama unfolded. Sources for In Touch allege text messages between Anderson and Christina caused Tarek to blow up.

Even though Anderson's involvement in the gun incident sounds like a twist straight out of Melrose Place or Desperate Housewives, the now-couple was supposedly just friends at the time. In fact, according to sources for TMZ, the relationship between Anderson and Christina didn't actually get hot and heavy until a few months after the police incident. Some TMZ staffers raised a brow at the alleged timeline, but, yeah...we'll just let their words do the talking.

As is so often the case with a celebrity scandal, the tabloids dug up dirt on Anderson almost immediately after he was linked to Christina. In Touch reported that he's allegedly gone through two "bitter" divorces. "Gary's 1999 split from his first wife, Jo Ann, was followed by nearly a decade of nasty court battles, where they fought over money and custody of their daughters after 13 years of marriage," the tab claimed. His second divorce from a woman named Denise happened in 2005, after four years of marriage, according to In Touch. The publication alleged Anderson was eventually forced to give Denise "$2,000 a month spousal support for two years, $330,000 from their joint bank account, a brand-new BMW, their $700,000 California home and an equalization payment of $405,000."

Whew, let's hope Christina knows what she's getting into. As for first wife Jo Ann? Well, that's where things get even sketchier.

In Touch also alleged that, during his first divorce, Anderson "vastly understated his income" and thus paid lower spousal and child support payments. The courts eventually caught on and ordered him to pay big. According to the report, he forked over "$4,000 a month in spousal support [to Jo Ann] until 2003, $7,082 a month in child support and $100,000 in back child support and agreed to put an additional $50,000 in a bank account for his daughters."

Christina and Tarek have a son and a daughter together. As rumors flew about Anderson's antics, Tarek tweeted, "...I will keep my focus on what matters most, which is co-parenting our children and working hard on our business."

Despite all the drama, it appears Christina and Anderson's relationship is serious. Case in point: in December 2016, TMZ claimed the photo above, shared on Christina's Instagram, features the reality star with one of Anderson's daughters. The pic reportedly took place in Park City, Utah. TMZ said the girlfriend-daughter duo "look quite happy, to say the least." Though the tab was unsure if Anderson was actually on the trip, or if Christina and his daughter are as cozy as they look, we're willing to bet this indicates the new relationship is anything but a flop.

In January 2016, Tarek posted to Instagram the poster of the Bryan Cranston-James Franco comedy Why Him?, leading publications like the New York Daily News to wonder whether he was referencing Anderson. "OMG!!!" the since-deleted post read, according to the Daily News. "If you are having a #rough day you #MUST watch this #movie!! I just #cried of laughter for two hours. #Top three movies #ever!!!!! #whyhim."

To be fair: Tarek may just be a really, really big fan of Cranston and Franco. But, funny timing, no?

Despite the allegedly messy fallout from Anderson's two divorces, at least one of his past relationships ended on a good note. In December 2016, Hollywood Life spoke to an unnamed ex of the contractor, who claimed that he is "very respectful of women and a good guy." "I fell for him because he had a big heart and in the time that we were together he treated me very well," she said.

She also claimed she did not know what's happening with Anderson and El Moussa, but said "I would not say anything bad about him. Gary was hard working and well respected."