Tarek El Moussa Suffered Depression ‘Worse Than Cancer’ After Divorce From Christina
March 30 2018, Published 12:00 p.m. ET
Tarek El Moussa spoke out for the first time about his horrific health struggles, ongoing cancer crisis and heartbreaking divorce in a tell-all interview with Dr. Drew Pinsky on the Dr. Drew podcast.
“I’ve had a lot of different struggles in my life: financial struggles, personal struggles. Just a whole lot of struggles. I feel like I’m finally in a place like, I was so broken after everything I went through,” the Flip or Flop star said in his talk.
“Literally broken that I was devastated. I could barely walk I was so broken as a person after going through all the trauma and the divorce and all these different things,” added Tarek, 36.
As RadarOnline.com readers know, Tarek and Christina El Moussa finalized their divorce this January 2018. They share custody of their two kids, and have remained reality TV partners in their house-renovating show.
Tarek overcame his thyroid and testicular cancer in 2013, but he revealed in his podcast that the near-fatal health crisis was not his hardest battle.
“It was just my hormones were off. I was tired and I thought it was from the thyroid medication but it wasn’t. Here’s the worst thing I ever did which is 100 times worse than cancer,” Tarek recalled. “I thought it was from my testicular cancer so I went to this Botox doctor and hormone clinic that my ex said to go check out. Next thing I know I’m shoving a needle on my a** and taking steroids, it was testosterone. It was awful.”
“I was on way too much testosterone,” he admitted. “On top of that taking human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) injections every day because I was told to.”
Despite his heartbreak over his separation from Christina, 34, Tarek said the breakup was a wakeup call for him, and forced him to get “off everything” and overcome his struggles.
“The second I separated from my wife I said, ‘Okay it’s time to do some soul searching, figure out what’s wrong with me.’ The worst part before that was I hurt my back. It was the worst experience of my life,” he said.
“I got back surgery I went from 230 lbs. to 168 lbs. So I had the cancer and then I got the second cancer. And then four months after, I recovered from the second cancer, I hurt my back. I lost 60 lbs., I was on Vicodin every day, my hormones are off, I’m on pain meds and narcotics and I’m filming and working. It’s wild. It was a horrifying experience,” Tarek said, while speaking of his many ailments.
The star admitted the darkest period in his life lasted about four years and ended when he got off his pills and decided to stop suffering.
“I would find myself just sitting alone and just being depressed. It’s all because of all the s**t that was being pumped into my body just turned me into someone that wasn’t me. In 20/20 hindsight I think, ‘How in the hell did I film a show, start a company, how did I do all these things?’ I was so spun out from all the s**t they gave me.”
While he was no longer romantically involved with Christina, Tarek said she was always a huge support, as were his kids and the rest of his family.
“After separating and losing my family, I said ‘I’m gonna do every single thing I can to be the best person I can be.’ I can say standing here today I’m the best version of myself I ever thought I could be,” Tarek continued.
“I’ve been through so many things: the sickness, the divorce, the cancer, success, mental health, physical health. People have helped me and I remember how important it was for positive support. Just talking about it makes me feel so much better,” he concluded. “Honestly, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been to date because I don’t feel the way I felt.”
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