Tarek & Christina El Moussa Are Seeing Other People After Secret Split in May: Source

Tarek and Christina El Moussa may have just announced their split on Monday, but the HGTV stars had been living separately and seeing other people for months, PEOPLE has learned

Tarek and Christina El Moussa may have just announced their split on Monday, but the HGTV stars had been living separately and seeing other people for months, PEOPLE has learned.

The Flip or Flop stars, who revealed they are going their separate ways after seven years of marriage, have not been living under the same roof since at least May — Christina, 33, has been living with their children, and Tarek spends several days a week and daughter Taylor, 6, and son Brayden, 1.

In her time apart from Tarek, who is also dating other people, Christina’s friendship with a fellow design industry professional has become romantic.

And though the exes are now pursuing new relationships, the source maintains that infidelity was not at the core of their split — nor was it related to a harrowing altercation this spring that the couple reference in their separation announcement on Monday.

Addressing “challenges” in their marriage, the pair said in a statement to PEOPLE: “We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago and the police were called to our house in an abundance of caution. There was no violence and no charges were filed.”

After the incident, Christina and the children left to live with their nanny; Tarek moved out a month later when she returned to the family home.

In their statement on Monday, they affirmed that both work and family life will continue ahead. “During the process, we are committed to our kids and being the best parents we can be,” they said. “We will continue to work through this process civilly and cooperatively, and plan to continue our professional life together.”