New HGTV Star Heather Rae El Moussa Responds to Backlash

With a new baby and a new HGTV show, Heather Rae El Moussa says she has no time for the “hate” directed toward her online. Married since October 2021 to longtime HGTV personality Tarek El Moussa, with whom she now stars in “The Flipping El Moussas,” the new mom says that she’s so “obsessed” with their six-week-old son, Tristan Jay, that she is focused on him, rather than online negativity.

The 35-year-old real estate broker, who has also appeared on Netflix’s “Selling Sunset” since it premiered in 2019, is accustomed to the online criticism that often comes with being in the public eye. In a new interview with the British digital magazine Blush, El Moussa said she’s doing her best to ignore the naysayers as she settles into life as a new mom and one of HGTV’s newest stars.

Heather Rae El Moussa Says She Tries to Avoid Drama

GettyHeather and Tarek El Moussa with some of her “Selling Sunset” castmates

In her interview with Blush, El Moussa said she was pleasantly surprised that most social media followers have been kind in relation to her baby boy, born on January 31, given that she usually receives so much pushback on her posts.

With over three million Instagram followers, El Moussa has plenty of fans who love seeing peeks inside her often glamorous life, but she also regularly receives hostile, hateful comments about everything from her voice to her looks, including many comparisons to her husband’s ex-wife and former “Flip or Flop” co-star Christina Hall. Even her mother-in-law tried to stick up for her recently, clapping back at Facebook users who left unkind comments.

“I get a lot of hate in general, for so many things, and you’re not going to please everybody,” El Moussa told Blush. “Plus I don’t post things just for other people, I post things for myself.”

“I’ve never been the type of girl to have a ton of drama,” she added.

However, she has been known to stick up for her friends when she sees them being bullied online. When El Moussa posted photos from her baby shower in November, many people chided her friends, criticizing them for being too glamorous or scantily clad for the event. Her “Selling Sunset” co-star Chrishell Stause received so much backlash for her outfit, El Moussa took time to reply to commenters.

“Seeing a lot of negative comments, and I just don’t understand why so many people choose to live with such negativity and tear people down when the day was so perfect,” she wrote. “Who cares what my friends wore?? They are all beautiful and I want them to feel empowered. And no it wasn’t a ‘normal baby shower’ but what’s normal anymore….?? Truly let’s just lift each other up and stop with the mean comments tearing a woman down. Isn’t there enough hate in the world already??”

El Moussa told Blush, “I think as you see me on (‘Selling Sunset’), I’m good friends with all the girls. I’m the one that keeps the peace. I try to see everyone’s point of view. I speak up when I’m meant to speak up.”

Heather Rae El Moussa is Glad Most Followers Seem to Appreciate Her Real Life Posts as a New Mom

Since baby Tristan’s birth, El Moussa has said that her whole focus is on her little one, and wants to share honestly what the early days of motherhood are like for her. On February 15, when the couple announced Tristan’s name, El Moussa said they’d received a “very positive response” from fans.

“I think everyone is just excited to finally hear his name,” she said, aware that followers had grown impatient after waiting 15 days for the couple to announce the name and share photos of his face, which first appeared in Us Weekly.

She explained, “We wanted to keep things a little bit private in the beginning, especially because we were just so busy.”

In the weeks since, El Moussa has tried to honestly share her postpartum experience including challenges with breastfeeding and juggling the pressures of work — including having to film segments for both of her shows. On March 11, when she had to get dressed up to shoot scenes for “The Flipping El Moussas” and leave baby Tristan at home, she wrote how hard it was to leave him behind.

“I’m all done up in these pics because I still have to finish a few scenes for the Flipping El Moussas but it genuinely kills me to leave him,” she wrote. “I cried the first time I was away from him for 4 hours because honestly my whole world surrounds Tristan and it’s hard to think of anything else.”

She added, “Only sharing this because I don’t want to post a photo of myself all done up without sharing some realness, too.”

The majority of people responded with empathy or shared their own early motherhood stories, but El Moussa still received pushback from some on the post.

For instance, one person wrote, “But hey, gotta keep Heather in the spotlight. Before long the nanny will take over 💯 and you will be back to shoving selfies down our face. Amiwrong?”

El Moussa also received a great deal of criticism on her March 14 post featuring two images from a photo shoot with her cradling baby Tristan while wearing a light blue tulle dress with puffy sleeves. Many claimed she shouldn’t be in his newborn photos, calling her appearance in them  “selfish” and “bizarre,” while others harshly criticized the dress.

But any pushback from followers online doesn’t seem to be impacting the rising popularity of the El Moussas’ new HGTV series, which airs on Thursday evenings. Three weeks into their first season, early ratings results via ShowBuzzDaily show that the most recent episode, which aired on March 16, drew more viewers than their previous two weeks — despite the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament monopolizing the ratings. “The Flipping El Moussas” landed in the top 10 non-basketball programs on TV that night.