Tarek El Moussa is looking back at a difficult chapter of his life.
The HGTV star recently shared why he decided to open up about his divorce with his ex-wife Christina Hall in his book Flip Your Life.
"I felt like I had to be honest, you know?" Tarek explained on the April 2 episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show. "And the only way to tell the real story is to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, right? It was just my time to just share what I went through."
The Flip or Flop cohosts—who share daughter Taylor, 13, and son Brayden, 8—announced their breakup in 2016 after nine years of marriage, with them going on to finalize their divorce two years later. As Tarek details in his book, he went through a series of challenges during and after their relationship, including his battles with thyroid and testicular cancer, a back injury and steroid addiction.
And the 42-year-old called the book an "apology to my family, to my ex-wife, to my children, to my mom, to my dad, kinda to everybody."
"When you're going through multiple cancers back-to-back, and your hormones are off, and you're in surgeries and you have no thyroid, you do things you normally wouldn't do," Tarek, who is now cancer-free, told Jennifer Hudson. "Not that it's an excuse, but I just wasn't the best guy during those years. It was tough. It was real tough."
The toughest part of it all? "What really broke me honestly was my divorce," he added. "That was exponentially more difficult than every issue in my life put together, and somehow I got through it."
Tarek has spoken about his journey before. After his fights against cancer, he previously told E! News, "right as I started to get healthy again, I hurt my back. And then I was on opiates for about a year: Percocet, Dilaudid, Vicodin. And after that, I still wasn't feeling good, so I started taking testosterone injections and that was the end of me. My hormones were all over the place."
Then in 2016—which also included Christina calling the police out of fear Tarek would take his own life after he left their house with a gun (with him later clarifying he just wanted to explore some nearby trails and brought his gun with him as he'd recently gotten a Carry Concealed Weapons permit)—his life, he said, "imploded."
"Christina left me, and it was heartbreaking," the real estate mogul continued. "And at the same time—looking back, 20/20 hindsight—I understand why she did. I was a mess for quite a few years."
Today, he is in a better place. Tarek and Christina have also each found love again with him marrying Heather Rae El Moussa—with whom he shares son Tristan, 14 months—in 2021 and the Christina on the Coast star wedding Josh Hall in 2022.
To see their family tree, keep reading.
Christina and Tarek welcome their first child together on Sept. 22, 2010.
Following their divorce, the pair have continued to co-parent their daughter, who Christina has described as an "old soul who one minute can talk super deep about life and then quickly go back to being a kid."
"Her greatest ability is being able to start a conversation with anyone, anywhere," she said of Taylor. "Fun, smart, athletic, HAPPY, and always keeping us on our toes."
Christina and Tarek welcomed their second child together on Aug. 20, 2015.
In addition to their oldest child Taylor, the two have continued to co-parent Brayden after their divorce. In the past, Tarek has described their son as "a ball of energy" and the "sweetest boy with the biggest heart."
"No words can describe how much brighter this boy makes my day," Tarek shared. "I feel blessed every single day to be his and Tay's dad and raising him and seeing him grow up makes me the happiest dad alive."
Almost a year after announcing her split from Tarek, Christina started dating Ant, a TV presenter from England, in October 2017. The two went public with their relationship in January 2018—the same month Christina's divorce from Tarek was finalized—and tied the knot in a winter-themed wedding at their home in Newport Beach, Calif., on Dec. 22, 2018.
Christina and Ant—who is dad to daughter Amelie and son Archie with his first wife Louise Storey—welcomed their first child together, son Hudson, in 2019.
The couple were married for less than two years before announcing their separation in September 2020. Their divorce was finalized nine months later.
Since the split, Ant has moved on with actress Renée Zellweger.
Christina and Ant welcomed their son on Sept. 6, 2019. At the time, the baby boy arrived weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces and measured at 19.5 inches long.
Though they agreed on shared legal and physical custody of Hudson when their divorce was finalized in June 2021, Ant filed for full custody in April 2022, claiming in court documents that his ex spends roughly "9 full days" with their child each month.
In response to the filing, Christina told E! News, "What Ant is doing deeply saddens me. If this was really about Hudson, as he says, this should have been handled privately with a private judge or mediation, as myself and my attorney have suggested. I have had my share of ups and downs but I am a good mom and I love my children with all my heart and I will always protect them."
Heather Rae Young, Tarek's Second Wife
Tarek met the Selling Sunset star on the Fourth of July in 2019, when they were partying on boats that had docked next to each other at a marina in Newport Beach, Calif. Later that month, the pair were spotted kissing on a yacht and Tarek confirmed to E! News they were dating that August, saying, "I never thought I'd say this word again, but this beautiful young lady, Heather Rae, is my girlfriend, officially."
The couple got engaged in July 2020 and became husband and wife on Oct. 23, 2021, exchanging vows during a romantic outdoor ceremony near Santa Barbara, Calif.
Heather has often referred to herself as the "bonus mom" of Tarek's two older children, Taylor and Brayden. "I already feel like I have two kids," she previously explained to E! News. "I'm raising Tarek's babies, and we have them 50 percent of the time. I am such a good bonus mommy. I adore those kids. I raise them like they're mine."
After calling it quits with her second husband Ant, Christina began dating Josh in 2021. The pair went public with their relationship that July, with Christina revealing that they had been together for "a few solid months."
According to the Flip or Flop star, she met Josh, a licensed realtor, that spring at a time in her life when she "wasn't in a state of fear or fight-or-flight" and had "taken time off social, hired a spiritual coach and smoked a Bufo toad" to "reset" her brain.
Christina and Josh got engaged that September and by April 2022, a source confirmed to E! News that the duo married in a private ceremony.
Tristan Jay El Moussa, Tarek and Heather's Son
Tarek and Heather welcomed their son on Jan. 31, 2023. At the time, the baby boy arrived weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces.
He was named Tristan because "Tarek was supposed to be named Tristan," according to Heather, "and his parents ended up naming him Tarek."
His middle name is a nod to Heather's dad.
Though Josh's relationship with Christina pushed him into the spotlight, his sisters found fame way back in the aughts.
Stacie—or "Stacie the Bartender" as some fans remember her—was famously the target of Spencer Pratt's flirtations on The Hills. She has also appeared on Vanderpump Rules, most notably on season three as one of the bridesmaids in Scheana Shay's bridesmaids.
As for Jessica, the former Playboy model also made appearances on The Hills, as well as The Girls Next Door, Kendra, Kendra on Top and Kendra Sells Hollywood in support her best friend Kendra Wilkinson.
The older sister of Tarek, Angelique is the owner of Latitude 33 Hair Artistry in Anaheim, Calif. She purchased one of Tarek and Christina's flipped homes on an episode of Flip or Flop in 2014 and later filmed a digital series with her HGTV host bro in 2019.
Tarek's mother Dominique is no longer with the Flipping 101 star's father, whose name he has never publicly shared. She is currently married to Robert, who describes the El Moussa matriarch as "the love of my life" on Instagram.
Tarek has never shared his father's name, though in a November 2017 Facebook post he announced that his "old man" had turned 70 years old.
"The relationship between a father and his children is so important. I was lucky enough to have a supportive and motivating father that made me believe I could accomplish anything in the world," he captioned a picture of the family's birthday celebrations for the patriarch. "I can say that I wouldn't be where I am today without the support of my dad. I will take all the lessons I've learned from him and pass it on to my children."
In an interview with Country Living, Tarek said his father was "raised Catholic in the Middle East in Lebanon and then Egypt" and met his mother, who is from Belgium, in Europe as a teen.
While Christina has not publicly revealed her parents' identities, she has given glimpses into how her children interact with their grandparents. In 2019, she shared in an Instagram post that "we all sit together—my family and Tarek's family" when they watch Taylor perform at her school's annual Christmas concert.
"A couple people acknowledged how nice this is- I know there are a lot of divorced couples (including Tarek's mom and dad) who do this too and it's honestly easier for everyone," she wrote at the time. "Plus Taylor's face lights up when she sees us all in the same row supporting her."