Ant Anstead is asking fans to keep their opinions on his marriage out of his Instagram comments, following his ex Christina's announcement they had split after less than two years.
On Monday, the Wheelers Dealers star, 41, shared a black-and-white photo of himself and Hudson London, the 1-year-old son he shares with Christina, 37. He captioned the sweet snap, "Beautiful Boyz Weekend. Blessed."
Comments quickly came pouring in from concerned fans offering advice about his and Christina's relationship, but the British TV host wasn't interested in the strangers' takes.
Within a few hours of posting, he turned off all comments and amended the caption to read: “This was a father-son moment! But due to some mean people I have turned comments OFF! While we both appreciate words of support, Please stop trying to diagnose from afar. It’s not fair."
He continued, "Christina is fine. I am fine. And we remain good friends and will navigate this at our pace. Compassion and kindness is all that’s needed. X.”
Before turning off comments Ant responded to one user's query about whether the U.K. native would stay in California. "YES! This is my home! I weirdly felt at home here the moment I landed," he wrote, adding an American flag emoji.
Ant moved to the U.S. from England, where he had lived his whole life, in 2017 when he signed on to co-host Wheelers Dealers, his car-focused Discovery show. He met Christina shortly thereafter, and the pair married at their home in Newport Beach in December 2018.
Ant’s two older children, daughter Amelie, 16, and son Archie, 14, still live in the U.K. with their mother and Ant’s ex-wife, Louise Herbert. In August, Ant shared that he had traveled to the U.K. to spend two weeks in quarantine before seeing his kids, who he had previously been kept apart from due to COVID-19–related travel restrictions.
Christina — who shares daughter Taylor, 10, and son Brayden, 5, with her ex-husband and Flip or Flop co-host Tarek El Moussa — shocked fans when she announced that she and Ant had split with a statement to Instagram earlier this month.
"Ant and I have made the difficult decision to separate. We are grateful for each other and as always, our children will remain our priority. We appreciate your support and ask for privacy for us and our family as we navigate the future," she said in the post.
The pair began dating in October 2017, less than a year after her public split from El Moussa in December 2016. Her divorce was finalized in January 2018, 11 months before she and Ant married.
On Sunday, Ant spoke out about the split for the first time.
"Anyone who really knows me knows that I don't like to share private matters publicly. I have remained silent while holding on to hope. I never gave up on us. I pray Christina's decision brings her happiness," Ant captioned a black-and-white selfie of him and the HGTV star.
A source recently told PEOPLE that the pair had been struggling with their relationship for a year following the birth of Hudson in September 2019.
The Christina on the Coast star was left feeling "lonely and unhappy" with her home life, the source said, adding that "Christina found it difficult to balance everything" and "their marriage was struggling."
On Saturday, Christina briefly mentioned her struggling marriage amid her busy career and filming schedule in a candid Instagram post.
"I never thought I would have one divorce let alone two," she said. "I never thought I would have 2 baby daddies — but sometimes life throws us curve balls. Instead of getting stuck in these 'setbacks', I choose to look at these challenges as opportunities to grow."
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