Looking back. Tarek El Moussa admitted that his divorce from Christina Hall (née Haack) helped him change for the better and eventually become the perfect match for Heather El Moussa (née Young).
The Flip or Flop alum, 41, told Fox News Digital about how he changed his life after surviving both testicular cancer and thyroid cancer following a severe back injury and a divorce. “After the cancers, I had that terrible accident on my back and I lost like 60 pounds, and I was on all those opiates. I was not doing well. This is what people don’t understand — you know, from 2013 to 2016, it was hell,” he shared in the interview, which was published on Saturday, February 25.
The real estate investor continued: “I fought two cancers, I fought back surgery. I was dealing with all these hormone problems. And honestly, I lost my way. I lost who I was. When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t know who I was anymore.”
Amid his health issues, Tarek and Hall, 39, who married in 2009, announced their split in September 2016. The pair share daughter Taylor, 12, and son Brayden, 7. The Christina in the Country star was the one who opted to end the marriage, which was a pivotal moment for the former Flipping 101 host.
“Hitting rock bottom in 2016, when my ex-wife decided that she wanted to end things, that’s when I had to dig deep and really figure out who I was and who I wanted to be and where I wanted to go and how I was going to get there. So, I did a lot of work on myself to get to where I am today,” Tarek explained.
He and the Christina on the Coast star finalized their divorce in 2018 and continue to coparent their children amid their own ups and downs.
Tarek married Heather, 36, in November 2021, and the Selling Sunset star gave birth to son Tristan Jay, with Heather last month. Despite past drama — including a public argument at one of Brayden’s soccer games in May 2022 — Christina sent well wishes to the couple after their baby boy’s arrival.
“Christina congratulated us, of course, and she’s very happy for us,” Tarek exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month. “When it comes to gifts, we got so many gifts. I was actually surprised … It was really, really nice.”
(Christina, for her part, married Ant Anstead in 2018 and welcomed son Hudson the following year. They split in 2020 and finalized their divorce in 2021. She moved on with Josh Hall, who she married in April 2022.)
Tarek said Tristan’s birth was still a “surreal moment” despite already having two children. “I knew it was happening, but … it was like a feeling that I didn’t even know [could happen]. And it was just such a beautiful thing,” he gushed to Us.
