Ant Anstead Shares the Abrupt Way He Left His and Christina Haack’s Home After Their Divorce

Ant Anstead “walked away completely” from the home he shared with ex Christina Haack when they split in September after less than two years of marriage. The Wheeler Dealers host, who shares 1-year-old son Hudson with the Flip or Flop star, told PEOPLE that when he left their family home, he did so quickly, bringing almost nothing with him.

“When my divorce went through, I packed up my clothes and moved. I walked away completely and left everything there,” he explained. The British TV personality, who is also father to daughter Amelie, 17, and son Archie, 14, from a previous marriage, just moved into a house of his own in Laguna Beach and realized quickly during the process just how little he had to his name. “I’ve realized in the last nine months, this sounds ridiculous, but actually the only thing I owned was a couple of wine glasses, plus a cup and a kettle,” he admitted.

“I’ve spent the last few days realizing, oh my God, I don’t even own plates or knives or forks. I don’t have a bed,” Anstead said shortly after moving in. “So I’ve spent the last few days getting stuff that you don’t realize you need: bottle openers and tin openers and spatulas. So I’m scratching my head going, oh my god, this is overwhelming. I’m going to get all this stuff because nine months ago, I packed my clothes and I left.”

Despite the shopping spree he’s had to go on, Anstead called the process “amazing” overall. “I’m in this kind of real space where I don’t have any stuff. So everything is new. I’m not carrying anything over,” he said. Looking for his own home has been a long journey, and Anstead said he started his search just about three months following his split from Haack “because I felt displaced, I felt homeless.”

Things ended up taking longer than he expected, however, and in the last 10 months, Anstead realized that being held in that “really simple space” of renting an apartment allowed him to simplify his life and focus on what really matters in this difficult time. “I’ve realized how little I need, and what’s important. I don’t need anything but Hudson and my health,” he shared. “All of a sudden, I just had this overwhelming sense of gratitude.”