Selling Sunset's Heather Rae El Moussa responds to criticism that she prefers baby son to stepchildren

Selling Sunset star Heather Rae El Moussa, 35, has hit back at ‘online critics’ as she responds to concerns that she favours her biological child over her stepkids.

Tarek Rea El Moussa shares two children with his ex-wife, Christina Hall — Taylor, 12 and Brayden, 7, as well as newborn Tristan with Heather.

However, despite having a 50/50 joint custody arrangement with Hall, the older children rarely feature on El Moussa’s Instagram Feed.

Discussing their absence, she explained: "Taylor and Brayden are in school all day, and I’m home with Tristan. I can capture moments with Tristan easily.

“They’re also busy with sports and tutoring— they always have something going on,” she continued.

“I blink, and it’s 8 o’clock at night. So when we’re all together, the last thing I’m doing is standing around taking photos with all three kids.”

The Flipping El Moussas star also stated that she respects the privacy of her oldest stepchild, Taylor, who doesn’t always want photographs posted online.

She said: “She’s a teenager now and she’ll be like, ‘I don’t love my hair in that picture. Please don’t post that one.'”

Furthermore, the mum-of-three admitted she is often 'shamed' for needing help and for travelling abroad with her parents and a nanny.

She stated: “As a working mother, I need to be able to have help so that I can do the things that I need to do. I’m very proud of what I do, but I need help.”

“I do have to leave Tristan — it’s already hard enough as it is, and to get shamed on top of it for having a nanny? It’s not okay.”

The comments come after El Moussa had previously detailed how close her relationship is with her husband’s children.

In the caption she wrote: “I met Tay when she was a little girl and the second I met her, I knew my life was going to change.

“She melted my heart. She opened her heart to me day one of meeting her. There was never an 'awkward' phase for us.”

The comment continued to say: “Not everyone can understand the close relationship I have with the kids & that’s fine, all that matters is how we feel. The kids made me want to have kids, I love my role as their bonus mom.”