Flip or Flop star Tarek El Moussa has spoken out about his battle with having testicular and thyroid cancer at the same time. The 35-year-old joined the TODAY show on Tuesday morning to reveal that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer only weeks after his thyroid cancer diagnosis back in 2013.
“Getting the thyroid cancer was hard enough, and then a few weeks later, learning I had testicular cancer, I literally thought I was gonna die,” Tarek said.
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The father-of-two learned of his disease after receiving a letter from a fan that noticed a lump on his neck. While thyroid cancer was hard enough in itself, Tarek explained that he wanted to keep his testicular cancer diagnosis to himself.
“I just didn’t want to come out with it,” he said. “It was more of a personal thing.”
The reason behind Tarek choosing to open up about having testicular cancer is because his stepfather is now battling the same disease.
“For me, the main reason I’m coming out is to create awareness,” he said. “I know that when I came out with thyroid cancer, a lot of people found out they also had thyroid cancer. So, I feel it’s something I had to do.”
The HGTV star also dished on separating from his estranged wife Christina El Moussa, with whom he co-hosts Flip or Flop.
“We tried the counseling, it just wasn’t working,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’re not going to remain friendly, because the number one goal is to co-parent our children, and we have to remain friendly because we know how important it is for them to have good parents.”
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m not gonna say it was easy,” he said. “It’s like anything, there’s challenges in life. I mean, we love filming — that’s our job. We’ve been doing it a long time, and we love releasing a good product for our fans. We just had to fight through it, and be the best we could, and I think it turned out great.”
The interview was conducted on the same day that Christina El Moussa made an appearance on Good Morning America. Check out what she had to say here.
Up Next: Christina El Moussa Speaks Out For First Time On Good Morning America | Tarek El Moussa Shares Sweet Photo With His Kids on Flip or Flop Set | Tarek El Moussa Has A New Real Estate Ad, And Someone Was Left Out | Tarek El Moussa Just Posted The Most Adorable Photo Of His Daughter
[H/T Entertainment Tonight]
