Heavy/HGTV/YouTube HGTV's Christina Hall and husband Josh Hall
One week after HGTV star Christina Hall and her third husband, Josh Hall, filed for divorce — on July 16, 2024 — fans are still buzzing online about the breakup, with some shocked by the split, but many insisting there were clear signs that the couple was struggling.
From Josh’s barely-there appearances on the new season of “Christina on the Coast” to a year-old interview in which the couple divulged issues including Christina’s jealousy and Josh being “not romantic at all,” multiple examples have surfaced that showed trouble brewing in the Halls’ short marriage.
Josh Hall ‘Pretended’ to Be Romantic While Courting Christina Hall
In court documents reviewed by Heavy, Christina listed July 7 as the date of her separation from Josh, while he listed the date as July 8 in his filing. As she looked ahead to her 41st birthday on July 9, she told E! News that she was hoping her next year brought her greater peace.
“I just want peace,” she said. “I need things to be more peaceful and calm and just want to be more present and, overall, less chaos, less drama.”
A year prior, plenty of drama cropped up as the couple took part in “Spilling the E-Tea,” an interview segment with “Entertainment Tonight” in which Christina and Josh had to ask each other pre-written questions about their marriage.
Though the two were in good spirits while filming at their home in Newport Beach, California, some of their exchanges were very revealing, including a chat about which one of them was “more romantic.”
“I’m kind of embarrassed to even have to answer this,” Josh began, “because I am not a romantic by any means. You are definitely the romantic. But I’d say the most romantic thing I’ve done was your first birthday we spent together. The private dinner at that secret wonderland restaurant when we were the only ones there.”
“So, see, you impressed me at the beginning and pretended you were romantic, but you really weren’t,” Christina interjected as she laughed nervously.
“Oh yeah, once I had you, romance was gone,” Josh quipped, to which Christina replied, “You hooked me. You’re like, ‘Look how romantic I am,’ because that was a romantic trip. But since then, you’re like, ‘Uh, it’s good. We’re married now.”
Fans Cringe Over Christina Hall Admitting She Was ‘Way Too Jealous’ to Play Celebrity Hall Pass Game
Another awkward moment during the 2023 “Entertainment Tonight” segment came when Christina and Josh discussed “celebrity hall passes” — a game in which spouses each name the one celebrity crush with whom they would cheat if they knew they wouldn’t get in trouble for it.
When she asked Josh to name his “celebrity hall pass,” she added, “Careful how you answer this.”
Playing it “safe,” Josh first joked that he’d choose James Bender, Christina’s design partner on her HGTV shows. He then mused that he’d pick actress Margot Robbie, but said that things could get “uncomfortable” if they attended the “Barbie” premiere that month, which they did. In the end, Josh named legendary actress Audrey Hepburn because she’d already “passed on,” figuring that would mean he’d be able to “still sleep in the bed tonight.”
But when Josh asked Christina to give her celebrity hall pass, she answered dryly, “First of all, we both know, like, I literally don’t know anyone’s names. I have no idea what celebrities are what. And second, you know I’m way too jealous to answer that question.”
Looking worried as she refused to name her own celebrity hall pass, Josh stammered and she exclaimed, “I know. You walked right into it, though. I don’t have one.”
Plenty of YouTube viewers praised the couple for being “authentic” and wished them well, but others were unimpressed and expressed concerns about their relationship.
“Don’t see the chemistry,” one fan wrote when the interview was first posted, while another accurately predicted, “I give it three years, tops.”
Meanwhile, someone who just watched the resurfaced video weighed in, “Her laughs after his answers are so contrived and fake. Their incompatibility is very transparent.”
Christina Hall Said In Early July That ‘It’s Hard to Work With Your Spouse’
GettyChristina and Josh Hall with kids Brayden, Taylor and Hudson in January 2023
Other signs that there’s been trouble brewing in the Halls’ marriage, according to online fans, include the fact that Josh has rarely appeared on the newest season of her show, “Christina on the Coast,” which premiered on July 11. In an advance interview with Us Weekly, Christina admitted that working on-screen with her husband was not easy.
“I mean, it is challenging to work with your spouse,” Christina said, “especially if they’re not used to being on TV.”
In the episode that aired on July 18, Josh only briefly appeared as Christina set up a 13th birthday party for her daughter Taylor, whom she shares with ex-husband Tarek El Moussa. They also share 8-year-old Brayden, and she shares her four-year-old son, Hudson, with second husband Ant Anstead.
A former real estate agent and police officer, Josh requested alimony and half of all the assets they accumulated during their brief marriage, per his divorce filing. That has prompted a flurry of comments from HGTV fans in a Reddit chat room devoted to the network.
One weighed in, “It’s amazing that we all saw him as a deadbeat mooching off her and she couldn’t! I don’t understand how she was so naive. She reminds me of myself at 22 but I have grown since then haha.”
Fans have also recalled that Josh filed for divorce from his first wife, Chelsea Baker, in February 2021, according to the U.S. Sun, and that he and Christina started quietly dating weeks later, in March. The two were married by that October, per their divorce filings.
“Josh always gave me a bad feeling and I still don’t know what it is,” one viewer wrote on Reddit. “He’s awful for asking for spousal support for a three year marriage for a single mother of three. HOWEVER…pretty sure it’s also the reason she needed him so [expletive] bad. Her ‘protector’ was able to dedicate himself 100% to her because he didn’t have a damn other thing going on. She wanted someone that could become HER life, not mold two lives together.”