The already strained relationship between Adrienne Maloof and her ex-husband, Paul Nassif, seemed to take a turn for the worse back in September when Maloof filed for a restraining order against her former spouse. But whatever bad blood was between them, it appears Nassif is trying to put it behind the two by supporting her new relationship.

Maloof, 51, publicly acknowledged last week that she is dating Sean Stewart, the son of British rocker Rod Stewart, who is quite a bit younger than the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star. Maloof said that she and Stewart, 32, met through a mutual friend who set them up, because Stewart had been interested in pitching her a business idea.

In an interview with TMZ, Maloof said that she and Stewart were taking things slowly and that she wasn’t concerned by the age difference.

"It's about how good of a person you are,” Maloof said. “[Sean] is a very funny guy. He's very giving, he mentors at the mission, works with at-risk children and gives his time and money to get children off the streets."

"Age is just a number,” she added.

If Maloof’s fans expected her ex-husband to use the relationship as an opportunity to speak out against his wife, they were in for a surprise. Despite the tabloid drama between the two, Nassif spoke supportively of his wife, telling TMZ, "As long as she's happy, that's all I care about."

The two did battle late last year when Maloof’s attorneys criticized Nassif of physically abusing the couple’s sons. Nassif called the claims “utterly false” and added that the divorce proceedings had become “a bit of a circus.”

"I'm going to stay utterly focused on [my children's] well-being and the knowledge they need equal time with both of their parents both of whom love them very much. I'm sure all will be fine, and when all the emotion of the moment dies down, Adrienne and I will be terrific co-parents,” Nassif told TMZ.

His divorce attorney, Lisa Meyer, had harsh words for Maloof’s petition for a restraining order, calling the move “gamesmanship at its worst.”

“This smacks of underhandedness. Adrienne wasn’t even present when this allegedly occurred,” Meyer said in a statement to TMZ. “It is a sad day when parents have to stoop to the level of making false allegations against another parent.”

Stewart also separately acknowledged is relationship with Maloof, telling the tabloid magazine that he is “very happy” about dating the business mogul and that anyone discouraging them from dating based on their age gap is “sexist.”

"If men can date younger women, why can't an older woman date a younger man? It's sexist,” Stewart said. "It's about the person she is inside. Age is just a number. If there's a connection and someone cares about a person, that's what matters really."

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