Tarek El Moussa admitted he was not in a good spot after he split from Christina Hall in 2016.
“When my ex left me, I went to some soul-searching places,” El Moussa, 42, revealed on the Monday, January 8, episode of the “Jeff Fenster Show” podcast. “I actually lived in a halfway house. This is my first time sharing that.”
“I didn’t trust myself to be alone,” the reality star, who shares kids Taylor, 13, and son Brayden, 8., with his ex and son Tristan with wife Heather Rae El Moussa, continued. “That’s how bad I was. The reason I ended up there is because I didn’t know where to go and I needed 24-hour care. It was pretty bad because I had lost everything, it felt like, overnight. There were so many things going on.”
After the tumultuous split, the real estate guru admitted it took him a long time to get back on his feet.
“It took me years to get over my divorce. I’m talking rock bottom. I did not want to be alive. It was that bad," he said.
10 months later, the dad-of-three finally came to the realization that "life isn't fair" — a "defining moment" for him.
The former flames got married in 2009 after dating for three years. Seven years later, they split and finalized their divorce in January 2018.
Prior to parting ways, the pair, who skyrocketed to fame after appearing on Flip or Flop for 10 seasons, got into an altercation involving a gun at their Yorba Linda, Calif., home. Though officials said the police responded to a "possibly suicidal male with a gun" at the time, he made it clear the weapon was to protect them from wild animals when on a hike.
Tarek, who was diagnosed with two types of cancer in 2013, said he could have acted differently toward his then-wife and family.
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“Looking back, I wasn’t the best guy. I wasn’t the best husband. Definitely wasn’t the best father,” he stated. “No excuses, I was going through a lot at the time, but my actions were not the best.”
Now, El Moussa, who married his wife in 2021, is "so grateful" for "everything I have," including his wife and son, who was born in January 2023.
