Tarek El Moussa opened up about his “awful” divorce from his wife and Flip or Flop co-star Christina El Moussa. He also outlined some of the reasons for the divorce.
The couple split in December 2016, but it was not until January 2018 that their divorce was finalized. The split played out in public and was a nightmare for El Moussa.
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“Let’s just be honest, it was awful,” El Moussa told Dr. Drew Pinsky on the Dr. Drew Podcast. “I mean there was more PR about our divorce than any divorce I think I’ve ever seen. I mean it was wild, on every single magazine, on every news outlet, it was just beyond me.”
He confirmed that they are officially divorced, but he still has to work with Christina. They also share two young children, son Brayden and daughter Taylor. They even reunited in September for Taylor’s 7th birthday.
“You know it’s like anything, you can imagine you’re working with someone and one day you’re no longer living together and you separate and you still have to put your pants on, put your shoes on and go to work the next day,” El Moussa explained. “So it was a very difficult experience but as time went on obviously it got easier and easier. And at the end of the day we have a job to do, we have a family to support.”
Aside from the divorce, El Moussa has faced several challenges in his life, including fights with thyroid and testicular cancers in 2013.
“I’ve had a lot of different struggles in my life,” El Moussa told Pinksy, reports E! News. “Financial struggles, personal struggles…just a whole lot of struggles and I feel like I’m finally in a place…like I was so broken after everything I went through, literally broken, that I was devastated. I could barely walk I was so broken as a person after going through all the trauma and the divorce and all these different things.”
El Moussa also said his use of steroids in an attempt to get his life back to normal after the cancer battle played a role in the divorce. He said Christina suggested he see an “anti-aging specialist,” Page Six reports.
“Next thing I know I’m shoving a needle on my ass and taking steroids … it was testosterone,” El Moussa told Dr. Drew. “It was awful. I was completely on way too much testosterone, on top of that taking human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) injections every day … because I was told to.”
El Moussa also said he was over-medicated, and the results were anxiety attacks and an elevated heart rate.
“There’s a lot of contributing factors [to the divorce] — life is moving so fast. We bought a house, remodeling the house … my hormonal levels were off and I wasn’t feeling really well a lot of the time and I wasn’t being the best person I could have been,” El Moussa explained. “There’s so much going on with TV and the notoriety and the finances and so many different things happening at one time and it slowly pulled us apart.”
Christina has already started dating again. She is currently involved with British TV personality Ant Anstead, who also has two daughters with his ex-wife.
El Moussa moved on by recently buying a beautiful new home in Costa Mesa, California to share with his children.
“I was randomly driving down a street and saw this place and I knew it was the one,” El Moussa wrote on Instagram earlier this month. “Within hours I was writing an offer and negotiating the deal…the lesson…if you want something go get it, go after it and never quit! This relates to life in general..if there is something you want take action!!!”
