Tragic Details About HGTV Star Tarek El Moussa's Life

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The following article includes mention of addiction

Thanks to HGTV's immense popularity and extensive fan base, Tarek El Moussa has become a household name for those who love the network. El Moussa started his HGTV journey with his former wife Christina Haack in 2013, co-hosting the highly-acclaimed show, "Flip or Flop," which concluded its run in 2022. He has also hosted HGTV shows like "Tarek's Flip Side" and "Flipping 101 with Tarek El Moussa" and co-hosted "The Flipping El Moussas" with his current wife, Heather Rae El Moussa (née Heather Rae Young).

With all that being said, El Moussa's real life has at times resembled the houses he renovates in his shows. El Moussa may live a wildly lavish life, but he has dealt with much tragedy and managed to turn his life around every single time. Be it alcohol dependence, traumatic injuries, or a widely publicized divorce, he has withstood it all and been candid about his struggles. Here's a look inside the tragedies that shaped El Moussa's life — in his very own words.

As revealed in his 2024 book, "Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress — in Real Estate, Business, and Life," Tarek El Moussa was a part of his school's baseball team and envisioned a career in the sport. Sadly, shortly after entering high school, he sustained a catastrophic injury to his shoulder, and it shattered not only his aspirations but also his spirit. He wrote in the book, "I stayed on the team over the next three years, suiting up, shagging balls, and hoping things would get better. But by senior year, I knew my dream had come to an end."

Having his career plans gradually fall apart right in front of his eyes, El Moussa tried finding solace in alcohol. As he noted in a December 2023 Instagram post, "At 19 my life went downhill in what felt like over night. I gained 50 pounds, lost my confidence, lost my hope, and became a raging alcoholic."

El Moussa's dependence on alcohol was severe enough to keep him from moving forward in life, but he did eventually manage to feel motivated to make things better. At the age of 20, a down-and-out El Moussa living in his mother's garage realized he wanted a lot more in life and made efforts to make that happen. In September 2023, he shared his story on Instagram, writing, "I started taking real estate serious and decided to work harder then ever before for 90 days straight. ... 90 days later I made around $130,000 in commission selling houses and never looked back."

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

From the very beginning, "Flip or Flop" always had an expansive audience reach. Shortly after the show made its big debut in 2013, Tarek El Moussa received an email from a Texas-based nurse and fan, who noticed "a large nodule on his thyroid" and suggested he get it checked. While appearing on the 2019 show "Chasing The Cure," El Moussa spoke of his diagnosis in detail. The HGTV star — who had already had the nodule examined twice before receiving that email and was told it was nothing concerning — said, "I seriously went to the doctor the next day [after getting the email]. So, I found out that I had full blown stage 3 thyroid cancer." He ended up having the entirety of his thyroid and some of his lymph nodes surgically removed.

Post-surgery, El Moussa underwent radioactive iodine therapy — a treatment that makes the human body release radiation, the exposure to which can be harmful for those around the patient. Speaking of the effects the treatment had on his family life, El Moussa told People, "It was a nightmare. [My wife and daughter] stay in a different bedroom, and I can't stay with my daughter for more than a few minutes at a time. She wanted to hug me and watch TV every night and give kisses, and we couldn't do that." The circumstances did test his resilience and he clearly didn't give in, but the "nightmare," sadly, wasn't over yet.

A couple of months after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2013, Tarek El Moussa decided he would go through all of his medical records to ensure he had no other underlying, undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed conditions. In this process, he came across the report of a testicular examination he had gotten done a couple years earlier. He discovered irregularities in the report and, quite obviously, wanted an answer. Unfortunately, the answer was "testicular cancer."

Elaborating on how he got diagnosed, El Moussa told People in 2017, "I get over to the ultrasound and [the technician and I] are talking and having fun and all of a sudden he got really quiet ... He said, 'Are you in pain? I think you're in pain and should go to the emergency room.' ... A half hour later they tell me I have cancer and try to sign me up for surgery. That was devastating." He took quite a while to come to terms with the truth and had the malignant testicle removed a few weeks later.

Although El Moussa hid his second cancer diagnosis from the world for a few years, he now jokes about the testicular implant that replaced his cancerous testicle — while doing all he can do to raise awareness about cancer. During a 2017 appearance on Andy Cohen's SiriusXM radio channel, Radio Andy (via People), El Moussa playfully said, "At least my friends call me 'The One Nut Wonder' now, so, I mean, I have a good nickname." In March 2019, the TV personality took to Instagram to announce that he was officially cancer-free.

In 2015, more than eight months after undergoing the full course of cancer treatment, Tarek El Moussa injured his lower back while playing golf. Quite a few of his discs slipped and ended up pinching his sciatic nerve, causing severe pain and eventual impairment of his mobility.

Describing the period as "15 months of a whole new medical challenge" in his book, "Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress — in Real Estate, Business and Life" (via People), El Moussa wrote, "On a typical day, I would swallow eight or 10 painkillers just to get through the day ... I was as high as a kite all day long." Ultimately, he ended up requiring surgery, which, in turn, resulted in his urethra getting blocked — and he spent an extra week in the hospital to manage the complication. Thankfully, the post-op recovery was speedy, and after six weeks of being "stuck in bed, drugged up on painkillers," El Moussa regained his ability to move like he used to.

In May 2018, El Moussa took to Instagram to share that he was dealing with another back injury and wrote, "Last time I hurt my back it took me a year and a half to recover. ... I honestly can't even believe this is happening ... I will be truthful and say I'm very down because of this." Fortunately, he bounced back from the 2018 injury without undergoing surgery and was completely free of pain within less than two months.

In December 2016, Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack told the world they were ending their marriage. In a joint statement to People, the former couple noted at the time, "We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago and the police were called to our house in an abundance of caution. There was no violence and no charges were filed."

Shortly after the announcement, details about the "misunderstanding" came to light and became the talk of the town — and the 911 incident turned out to be pretty messier than we thought. Per reports, in May 2016, the couple had a serious fight at home, which prompted El Moussa to dash towards the hiking trail near their residence with a handgun in his backpack. Fearing El Moussa would attempt suicide, Haack called 911. The police promptly took action and managed to trace El Moussa with helicopter deployment. Officials said El Moussa was "compliant and cooperated with deputies" when he was being brought back to his house. When questioned, he told the police he just wanted to hike to "blow off some steam" and carried the weapon to keep himself safe from wild animals.

Elaborating on the incident in his 2024 book (via People), El Moussa wrote, "A police officer leaning out of the helicopter pointed a rifle at me. Dust swirled around me from the spin of the blades, and a loudspeaker crackled, 'Get your hands in the air!' ... For the next several hours, I sat on a cooler on my driveway, handcuffed." Sadly, the mishap became a major reason behind the "Flip or Flop" couple's divorce. As El Moussa's book read, "That was the very last time we were together as a family: with Christina walking down the driveway, crying, and me sitting there in handcuffs."

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When Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack's relationship came to an end, it left El Moussa mentally drained and unstable, somewhat forcing him to check himself into a halfway home, where he wouldn't be left alone. Opening up about his decision for the first time during a January 2024 appearance on "The Jeff Fenster Show" podcast, El Moussa said, "When my ex left me, man, I went to some soul-searching places ... I actually lived in a halfway house ... I didn't trust myself to be alone." He further added, "The reason I ended up there is because I didn't know where to go and I needed 24-hour care. It was pretty bad because I had lost everything, it felt like, overnight."

Given that the duo had been together since 2006 and were married for seven long years, it's not surprising that El Moussa took time to move on, but thankfully, he did. At the time of writing, El Moussa and Haack continue to co-parent their children – a daughter named Taylor (born in 2010) and a son named Brayden (born in 2015). El Moussa has been married to actor Heather Rae since 2021, and the two became parents to son Tristan in 2023. Haack, on the other hand, remarried twice and is, at the time of writing, single. She shares a son named Hudson with her second husband, Ant Anstead. Her third husband was Josh Hall.