HGTV star recalls hitting 'rock bottom'
Tarek El Moussa tells Fox News Digital that at one point he "didn't know" who he was anymore and that he "did a lot of work" on himself to get to where he is today.
HGTV star Tarek El Moussa explained that a 2016 incident in which he left his house after a fight with then-wife Christina Hall and was approached by police in a helicopter along a wooded trail was a misunderstanding.
The "Flip or Flop" star wrote in his upcoming book, "Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress — in Real Estate, Business and Life," that he simply felt like clearing his head after a heated argument with Hall, so he jumped a fence in his backyard and went for a walk on a trail in Chino Hills State Park behind their house, according to People magazine.
He said he has a concealed-carry permit and brought his gun as an "insurance policy" because there are mountain lions and bobcats on the trail.
Soon he noticed a helicopter overhead and thought maybe there was a wildfire. But then it became clear they were there for him.
HGTV STAR TAREK EL MOUSSA DETAILS ‘MASSIVE STRUGGLE’ WITH DIVORCE, CANCER, STEROID ADDICTION
Tarek El Moussa said his wife's 911 call after a fight years ago was the last time they were together as a family. (Presley Ann/Getty Images for MTV)
"A police officer leaning out of the helicopter pointed a rifle at me," he wrote in the book. "Dust swirled around me from the spin of the blades, and a loudspeaker crackled, 'Get your hands in the air!'"
He said the officer called his name and he answered, "'Yes! I’m the guy from TV! What are you guys doing?'"
It turns out Hall had called 911 after he left and for the "next several hours I sat on a cooler on my driveway, handcuffed."
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He added, "That was the very last time we were together as a family: with Christina walking down the driveway, crying, and me sitting there in handcuffs, asking myself, 'What in the world is going on?"
Tarek El Moussa and Christina Hall announced their split in 2016. (Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty Images)
Six months later, he and Hall publicly announced their split. The former couple shares a daughter, Taylor, and a son, Brayden.
El Moussa told Jeff Fenster on his podcast this month that he hit "rock bottom" after the divorce and "did not want to be alive. I felt that bad."
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He said he moved into a halfway house for a period of time "because I didn’t trust myself to be alone."
Tarek El Moussa is now married to Heather Rae Young. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for JBL)
El Moussa had been diagnosed with two kinds of cancer in the years leading up to the end of his marriage, and his hormonal changes from his treatments gave him anxiety, depression, panic attacks, emotional highs and lows and "ultimately, that turmoil led to my divorce."
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El Moussa eventually married Heather Rae Young, with whom he shares a son, Tristan. Hall is now married to Joshua Hall.
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