The following article mentions addiction and mental health issues.
Here is a look at the tragic story of HGTV star Tarek El Moussa.
El Moussa may never have made the big leagues, but his love of baseball has remained intact.
Instead…stay calm and relaxed and swing for singles and doubles."
He lived in his mom’s garage where he would regularly sleep half the day away.
“I slept so much not only because I was drunk but because I hated being awake.
I hated myself and I hated my life,” El Moussa explained onInstagramin December 2023.
“Every day I wallowed away in self-pity and misery.”
“At 19 my life went downhill in what felt like overnight.
I gained 50 pounds, lost my confidence, lost my hope, and became a raging alcoholic.
All my drive was gone,” he wrote.
Not long after his 30-shot day, El Moussa decided to spend 90 days taking real estate seriously.
He made $130,000 in commission and that was the start of his big turnaround.
“I actually went to the doctor twice for it, and they said it’s nothing.
So, once I saw [the note from Read], I was like, ‘You know what?
I need to get a second opinion.'”
When he awoke from surgery, he was told he had cancer.
“My doctor ended up removing the entire thyroid and some lymph nodes.
“I could tell he was nervous and he was like ‘Oh, I’m not a doctor.”
I said, ‘What do you mean?’
And he said, ‘Are you in pain?
I think you’re in pain and should go to the emergency room.’
Right then, I knew something was wrong.
A half hour later they tell me I have cancer and venture to sign me up for surgery.
That was devastating.”
El Moussa had his testicle removed, but still needed to undergo radiation.
The couple eventually welcomed a son in 2015.
“Trying to figure out the medications to replace my thyroid hormone was awful.
He went to an anti-aging clinic to seek help, which only ended up making matters worse.
The clinic also prescribed him testosterone, which exacerbated his problems, especially his anxiety and depression.
“We determined my testosterone wasn’t low, and I was basically getting double what I needed.
“It turns out the hormone issues were related to the thyroid removal.
“Last time I hurt my back it took me a year and a half to recover.
“A police officer leaning out of the helicopter pointed a rifle at me.
El Moussa wrote in his book.
El Moussa has maintained he was just seeking exercise and that the gun was for protection from local wildlife.
They tried counseling in the period of limbo, but to no avail.
El Moussa officially filed divorce papers in January 2017, and the divorce was finalized a year after that.
Though they ended their marriage in 2018, El Moussa and Haack continued working together on their hit series.
The worst part before that was I hurt my back.
“I didn’t trust myself to be alone.
That’s how bad I was,” he said.
It was pretty bad because I had lost everything, it felt like, overnight.”
“Tarek has credited Heather with totally changing his outlook on life after a handful of supremely difficult years.
I was honestly just sad and lonely without her,” he wrote onInstagramin October 2023.
“It was her who brought me back to life.
It was her who taught me to love myself and others again.
It was her who made me believe I deserved more.
It was her who gave me hope.”
“I just never really thought I would open up to someone again.
I never thought I would be vulnerable again,” El Moussa toldPeoplein 2019.
I had this feeling that I hadn’t felt in like 20 years.”
After slightly more than two years of dating, Tarek and Heather married in October 2021.
In January 2023, they welcomed a son named Tristan.
However, he was dropped from the show whenhe and Haack both filed for divorce in July 2024.
Heather and Haack have even filmed a few funny TikToks together, poking fun at their similarities.
