Tarek El Moussa is getting real about one of the lowest points of his life, including the day his now ex-wife Christina El Moussa feared he was suicidal.
As previously reported, police responded to the Flip or Flop couple’s home in May 2016 after receiving a “call of a possibly suicidal male with a gun.” Tarek, 36, allegedly ran from the home with a firearm, dropping the weapon when a helicopter spotted him and officers ordered him to. He then allegedly told police he did not intend to hurt himself, but wanted to “blow off some steam.”
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Christina, 34, was “crying and shaking,” witnesses said while she ran to someone at a neighbor’s residence to tell him that Tarek “took a handgun, put it in his backpack and ran outside.” The HGTV star said she had already called emergency services.
Six months later, the couple officially filed for separation after wedding in 2009. They share two children.
“It just made me realize that us being separated was healthier for both of us,” Christina told PEOPLE at the time.
But during an appearance on The Dr. Oz Show airing Friday, Tarek says the incident all stemmed from “a huge misunderstanding on her part,” referencing Christina.
“I had bought two mountain bikes. I sent my neighbor a text. I said, ‘Can I borrow your bikes, because I want to go scout trails.’ He wasn’t home. I have a CCW, California Concealed Carry, which means I can legally carry a firearm. I live in the canyons where there’s wildlife and bobcats and mountain lions and I literally went on a hike,” he explains.
“The next thing I know there’s a sheriff’s helicopter circling and I’m like, ‘Geez, what are these guys doing?’ and I’m like, ‘They must be looking for somebody bad.’ Then I realize, ‘Well, wait a minute he was looking for me,’ and next thing I know I see 11 sheriffs around me and off-road vehicles and guns on me,” he adds. “I’m like, ‘Wait, am I the guy? I think I’m the guy. What did I do?’ That’s what happened that day.”
“I thought you were suicidal or something else was going on,” Dr. Oz says.
“No, I literally I have the text to prove it,” Tarek replies. “That’s why I showed the police. They’re, like, ‘I’m sorry, man.’ I literally was trying to scout trails. I had just bought a mountain bike so I went on a hike. Sure, I was having a rough day, and I was trying to blow off steam, and that’s what I did. So it was a surreal experience. It was like my life was in slow motion, my life paused for a moment, and it was like I was living a movie.”
Tarek filed for divorce in January 2017, and the separation was finalized around the start of 2018. Christina is now dating British TV star Ant Anstead.
The Dr. Oz Show featuring Tarek airs Friday, April 20, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
Photo credit: Getty / Alexander Tamargo / Contributor
