HGTV star Tarek El Moussa is opening up about his darkest times in a new book that chronicles his hitting rock bottom and climbing back to the success he enjoys now. The book Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress — in Real Estate, Business and Life, even details his perspective of the viral incident that came out after his split from Christina Hall that involved a gun and a 911 call.
As readers may recall, news surfaced after Tarek El Moussa and Christina Hall's split that deputies were called to the house to search the back of the property after reports of a "possibly suicidal male with a gun." In his book (via People), El Moussa took the opportunity to present his version of what went down, and it's different than what was reported.
According to El Moussa, he had jumped the back fence of their then-home to scout out some trails to ride some new mountain bikes they had just purchased. He took a .38 pistol as an "insurance policy" to protect against wildlife, as the house was close to the Chino Hills State Park. He went on to say he only realized something was wrong when he saw helicopters overhead and soon realized that they were searching for him:
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!' I heard an officer shout, 'Tarek?' I screamed back, 'Yes! I’m the guy from TV! What are you guys doing?' For the next several hours, I sat on a cooler on my driveway, handcuffed. 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, asking myself, 'What in the world is going on?'
Following the incident and separation Tarek El Moussa explained he spent weeks drinking himself unconscious and dealing with severe withdrawals due to lack of testosterone he'd been taking before friends finally led him to a rehab facility. It took some time, but El Moussa eventually found his way back to Flip Or Flop and even filmed with Christina Hall. Granted, there were altercations that took place at first, but they eventually found a way to move forward following the outburst.
Life has improved for Tarek El Moussa since then, as he's currently married to his wife Heather Rae, with whom he'll be returning to HGTV for Flipping El Moussas Season 2. There's no return date on the 2024 TV schedule for the season yet, but it's possible, given the release of Season 1, that the new season could be coming in April.
Tarek El Moussa's ex, Christina Hall, is also having a good deal of success separate from him on HGTV. She is still married to her current husband, Joshua Hall, and co-parents with El Moussa with their two children, Taylor and Braden. It will be interesting to see what other details about El Moussa and his life outside of reality television surface in the book.
Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress — in Real Estate, Business and Life can be pre-ordered right now but will not be released until Tuesday, February 6th. Pick it up to read more about Tarek El Moussa's darker times in life and how he dug himself out of it to carve out a nice future for himself and his family.
