LIFE BY Design

HGTV sensation Christina Hall talks to Us about turning the big 4-0, why she has no regrets and what's next for her family

- JAIME HARKIN & ANDREA SIMPSON

Christina Hall ushered in 40 with a bang. On July 8, the day before her birthday, the HGTV star's realtor husband of one year, Josh Hall, surprised her with her dream car, a white Bentley convertible. That evening, he threw her an epic French Riviera-themed bash at the couple's new Newport Beach, Calif., mansion. "It was literally perfection," Hall tells Us of the party, which featured an endless supply of Veuve Clicquot champagne and a sushi buffet, and was attended by 40 of her closest friends and family members, including her daughter, Taylor, 12, and older son, Brayden, 7 (dad is Hall's ex-husband Tarek El Moussa). "I've never had a party thrown for me," adds Hall, "so it just felt really magical."

Hall’s thrilled to be entering a new decade. “I had some hard years,” the twice-divorced interior designer says. (She and Flip or Flop costar El Moussa split in 2016; in 2020, she divorced her second husband, British TV host Ant Anstead, one year after they welcomed son Hudson.) “Going through a divorce is very hard. It’s hard on me, hard on the kids,” admits Hall. “I’ve made mistakes, but I look at them as lessons learned. Things happen in life — it’s all about how you bounce back.”

How do you feel about your milestone birthday?

I always had a feeling the 40s were going to be the best years. In your 30s, you’re hustling, you’re starting businesses and having babies and doing the hard things. At 40, you know who you are. You’re not as worried about the small things.

You’ve found your happily ever after. Why do you think it took until now?