Christine Quinn Fights Back Tears While Opening Up About 'Dehumanizing' Split From Ex Christian Dumontet (Exclusive)

03/18/2025 05:30 AM

"I was stripped of my entire life overnight," the 'Selling Sunset' alum tells PEOPLE in an emotional interview in which she talks about her divorce for the first time

Christine Quinn is pulling back the curtain on her harrowing split from ex Christian Dumontet.

"This is the first time I'm talking about this stuff," the Selling Sunset alum, 36, tells PEOPLE exclusively of the incidents that led to the end of her three-year marriage to Dumontet. While she and her son Christian Georges, 3, have now made a new life for themselves in Texas, reliving the traumatic experiences that transpired in Los Angeles still brings up heavy emotions for Quinn. 

"I haven't talked about this with anyone," she continues. "Some people knew stuff was going on, but no one knew the extent of it in terms of how bad everything really was."

Quinn's estranged husband, and the father of her son, was arrested in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident involving their toddler in March 2024, and was later arrested again for violating an emergency protective order that Quinn says she was granted, PEOPLE previously reported. 

Related: Christine Quinn Has a New Life — and Home — in Texas with Her Son After Divorce: 'I'm Really Grateful' (Exclusive)

The former Oppenheim Group agent says she and her son had "no choice but to leave" their house in L.A. and start fresh in her home state of Texas as a result of her ex's actions. 

"I really didn't have a choice. I was granted an emergency protective order so my ex couldn't come to the house. He violated that, and would keep coming back," she tells PEOPLE.  

She recalls how it was "very difficult" to have to stay in a hotel during this time, and later "couch-surf" with friends since she felt she couldn't go home. What's worse, she says, is that she didn't have access to her own personal accounts — including her bank accounts, credit cards, and email account — because she claims her ex "commandeered" her phone number. 

"People really don't know this. I was hacked out of my entire life. I was stripped of my entire life overnight — I literally had nothing. And it was dehumanizing." Beginning to fight back tears, she adds, "I was completely resourceless." 

Dumontet and his lawyer did not respond to PEOPLE's repeated requests for comment about Quinn's allegations.

Related: Christine Quinn's Husband Files For Divorce After Being Arrested Twice Following Alleged Domestic Violence Incident

Quinn says there were issues happening in her marriage well before her split made headlines. 

"Everyone sees the incident that occurred, but this is something that had been going on for a while," she notes. "This is something that had been under the surface for a long time. It was extremely unhealthy, and I like to think that I'm extremely resilient — and I am."

She notes how seeing her son being impacted by Dumontet's behavior is what pushed her to finally  leave her marriage. 

"There are certain things that I could tolerate, and it got to a point where it was affecting my son, and that wasn't okay. I was like, 'Okay, I can deal with this, I'm an adult.' But bringing him into the chaos and everything that kind of ensued, I was like, 'No, this is not okay.'"

Quinn brings up an alleged example of her ex's attempt to control her, and how it contributed to their breakup. 

"There were times where my husband, literally, where I had to go to work and he would lay himself under my car," she claims. "I would sit for an hour until I finally missed a meeting and gave up and would go back inside, or he would shut the gates down so I couldn't leave. It was bad."

Related: Christine Quinn Hints at New Project as She Appears to Make a Dig at Estranged Husband

Quinn adds that ending her marriage was a "really hard" step for her to take, but she knew she had to do it to protect herself and her son. 

"It was really hard for me because I look at my parents. My parents are high school sweethearts," she explains. "I made a vow, and I really didn't want to break that. It took everything out of me, it really did, to realize that this is the right thing to do. And then it became a matter of safety. It was initially safety for me, and then it was safety for my son. And so I had to walk away."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

After going through such a distressing period, Quinn's decision to create a new life in Texas with her child has already turned things around for the mother-son duo. 

"I am really, really grateful to be living here," she says of her new home near Dallas, adding that it's a blessing to "be close to my family. I have a sister who lives really close to me, and my son has a cousin. So it's really something that I needed as opposed to the chaos when I was in Los Angeles."

As for how her son is adjusting to their fresh start in Texas, Quinn says, "He's absolutely loving it."