HGTV star releasing new memoir: ‘We can all flip our life’
HGTV star Tarek El Moussa shares advice on real estate flipping and lessons from his new memoir, "Flip Your Life."
Tarek El Moussa has overcome a lot, but he recalls filming "Flip or Flop" with Christina Hall after their divorce as the "most difficult thing in my life."
The HGTV star was a guest on "Fox & Friends" ahead of the release of his book, "Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress-in Real Estate, Business, and Life," when he explained that filming the series after 2018 was not an easy task.
"Let's just be honest, divorce is not easy," El Moussa said on Monday. "But showing up and filming with someone you had just separated from was very, very difficult, and of course, I was still in love with her at the time."
Tarek El Moussa found it "difficult" to work with Christina Hall on "Flip or Flop" after their divorce. (Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty Images)
El Moussa continued, "It was pretty difficult watching her get remarried and have a baby. I was filming with her through the whole thing. So, there were just some really, really tough years, but I never lost hope."
HGTV STAR TAREK EL MOUSSA GIVES HIS SIDE OF 911 CALL THAT ENDED MARRIAGE TO CHRISTINA HALL
El Moussa and Hall tied the knot in 2009 and separated nearly 10 years later in 2018. The former couple share two children, daughter Taylor, 13, and son Brayden, 8.
WATCH: HGTV star releasing new memoir: ‘We can all flip our life’
"Flip or Flop" first went on air in 2013, and after 10 seasons, the HGTV show aired its final episode in 2022.
After her divorce from El Moussa, Hall married Ant Anstead in 2018. The couple welcomed their son, Hudson, the following year.
After his divorce, El Moussa found love again. In 2021, he wed "Selling Sunset" star Heather Rae Young. The couple celebrated son Tristan's first birthday on Jan. 31.
"This boy is just so amazing," El Moussa said on "Fox & Friends."
Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae Young wed in 2021. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for JBL)
"Heather and I are just so happy. It's just incredible looking at my life today compared to what it was," he continued.
In an interview with People, El Moussa broke down some of the contents of his upcoming book, including being arrested for attempted murder as a teenager.
"It's part of my story," he told the outlet. "We're all a product of our environment, and I grew up in that environment. In order to thrive in that environment, you have to do certain things."
El Moussa was involved in a gang fight that resulted in an arrest on a charge of attempted murder and, ultimately, a short stay in a juvenile detention center.
In an excerpt from the book shared with People, El Moussa recalled how he became involved in the incident.
Tarek El Moussa reveals in his upcoming book that he was arrested as a teenager for attempted murder. (Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)
The California-born TV personality said that at the end of his sophomore year his "parents’ worst fears were realized. I was barely making Cs in school, and I had a terrible attitude."
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He had intended to go to his girlfriend’s high school graduation, but that same day, a friend who had been dumped by a girl asked him to come to a park to fight a rival group.
El Moussa and his group were attacked by the rivals with baseball bats and crowbars, he said. He recalled being hit by a bat, writing, "I tried to jump out of the way, but the bat connected, hard — hard enough to break my ribs. As a reaction, I dropped my arm and knocked the bat out of his hands. I grabbed the bat and hit him in the head. He dropped to the pavement and went unconscious."
Tarek El Moussa was attacked in high school by a group of rivals with baseball bats. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MTV)
He continued, "When I looked up, the park was a mess, all I could hear were police sirens in the distance, and all of my friends had left. There were bodies everywhere. But then, across the park, I saw that a ‘second wave’ was gathering. And these weren’t teenage boys; these were the older brothers of the guys we had just fought with. Some were obviously in their thirties. And they were running at me with crowbars. I was seventeen, and in that moment, I was all alone. That’s when the police pulled up and saved my life."
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"I can’t say for sure what happened next, but I must have blacked out. When I came to, I was sitting in the back of a police car, in handcuffs, charged with assault and battery, aggravated assault, attempted murder, and assault with a deadly weapon. Today, I’m convinced that the police arrived at exactly the right moment. If I hadn’t been arrested, I would have been killed."
El Moussa wrote that he spent a couple nights in jail "terrified. The charges against me were very serious, and I didn’t know if I was going to be there for a day, a week, or years."
Tarek El Moussa believes that if he wasn't arrested he "would have been killed." (Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Discovery Channel)
Eventually, his parents hired an attorney for their son and "After some investigation, the prosecutors figured out that I had used the other guy’s bat in self-defense, during mutual combat. It helped that I had a clean record. They dropped the charges and sent me home, but I was on house arrest for about a week. I was still in pain, and it took a few weeks for my ribs to heal, but I knew I was lucky to be alive."
The now-42-year-old also revealed that following the fight, he met with a psychiatrist who put him on Dexedrine, a drug that can reduce impulsivity.
"This was the first time I’d been medicated for my ADHD, and the change I experienced was incredible. It was as if everything suddenly slowed down," he said of the experience.
Tarek El Moussa's "Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress-in Real Estate, Business, and Life," is available Feb. 6. (Noel Vasquez)
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However, he felt "something was off" and "hated" taking the medication at the time. He continued, saying that "it took a while to get the dosage right, and the medication hasn’t ‘cured’ my ADHD, by any means, but I’m deeply grateful for it."
"Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress-in Real Estate, Business, and Life," is available Feb. 6.
Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Stanton contributed to this report.
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