Tragic Details About HGTV Stars Christina Hall & Tarek El Moussa's Marriage
Christina Hall and Tarek El Moussa definitely made a good team as famous co-stars, but did that come at the cost of their marriage? The pair got introduced in 2005, started dating in 2006, and were only one year away from tying the knot when the country's economy collapsed in 2008. This sank their once-lucrative property business, leaving them in dire financial situations. But rather than giving up or separating, they looked into other opportunities in real estate, which led them to house flipping.
Impressively, their first project earned decent profits and encouraged them to audition for a spot on HGTV. It took a year, but the network eventually contacted them for a pilot episode that turned out to be a huge hit and changed their lives. Thanks to this big break, Tarek El Moussa and Christina Hall's marriage seemed perfect. They had a beautiful three-year-old daughter, more money, and a new career in the television industry. Unfortunately, their world came crashing down after a follower spotted a terrible detail just two months later.
Tarek was diagnosed with multiple cancers in 2013
In June 2013, an internet user spotted a bump on Tarek El Moussa's neck and urged him to visit a doctor who recommended a simple operation to remove it. Sadly, what was supposed to be a routine surgery almost ended in disaster for El Moussa as the growth was cancerous and had begun spreading. He was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and advised to have radioactive iodine therapy to kill the remaining cancer cells.
Unfortunately, things would only get worse, as doctors soon found that he also had testicular cancer, which was a blow to the couple, who wanted more children. They were forced to deal with major health emergencies, a new-found life of fame, and a demanding career at the same time. Christina Hall and El Moussa pushed through, but less than a year after completing his treatment, he sustained a serious back injury while golfing, leading to yet another surgery.
In an interview with E! Online, the real estate investor recalled losing 75 pounds during recovery, becoming dependent on pain medication, and beginning testosterone shots. He added that his unbalanced mental state contributed to his divorce from Christina Hall: "I did not react well to the testosterone and my hormones were all over the place because I had no thyroid." His unbalanced hormonal system and medical issues soon began to strain their marriage.
Christina had a miscarriage in 2014
While Tarek El Moussa recovered from his health challenges, Christina Hall was undergoing IVF in hopes of conceiving their second child. Unfortunately, they suffered a devastating miscarriage eight weeks in. She eventually got pregnant again, but had to follow a firm schedule to avoid another miscarriage. "I had to do one full week in bed. For 13 weeks after that, I couldn't go for a walk and couldn't lift anything over a gallon of milk," she shared with People. And since El Moussa was nursing a back injury, he also couldn't do any heavy lifting.
Hall eventually gave birth to their child in August 2015 but couldn't take more than one month off due to the pressure of their new career and responsibilities. This turned out to be a costly mistake: "It was too soon for me. I was overwhelmed. The tension between me and Tarek was high," she recalled in a separate interview with People. It also didn't help that the couple worked together round the clock. They shared a real estate business, children, and a reality television show. Their tense feelings, combined with getting so few breaks from each other, made their home life incredibly stressful. Worsening the situation, the couple also had their fair share of unhealthy habits, especially when it came to how they communicated with each other.
Fame and lack of communication tore Tarek and Christina couple apart
The Flip or Flop duo might argue about a lot of things, but they both agree that neither of them had communication skills. This was one of the major signs that Christina Hall and Tarik El Moussa's marriage was never going to last. Speaking to People, Hall explained the troubling dynamic: "The tension between me and Tarek was high. We weren't able to properly communicate anymore. It got to the point where we weren't even driving to set together."
El Moussa also explained how the suddenness of their success became a stumbling block. "I feel like if we had better communication, we would have had a better relationship. I think as time went on, as you get busier and busier. It was like overnight, business, TV, all these things happened overnight," he said on "The Doctors" (via YouTube).
Another tell-tale sign of an imminent split was the reports that claimed the Hall and El Moussa handled their newfound fame too differently and had vastly mismatched tastes. One friend of the couple anonymously described the situation to People: "She has champagne tastes, and he's a beer-from-a-can kind of guy." This eventually led to some of the worst fights that Christina Hall and Tarek El Moussa had on "Flip or Flop."
Christina and Tarek dealt with a suicide scare in 2016
Christina Hall and Tarek El Moussa's final fight began due to a misunderstanding based on lack of communication. In May 2016, Hall made a call to police officers reporting that El Moussa had left their home with a gun and was possibly suicidal. Per her reports, he had erratically stormed out after a fight, jumped over their backyard enclosure, and disappeared into a forested area.
This began a tense search, which probably felt like a manhunt to El Moussa. "Then a police officer leaning out of the helicopter pointed a rifle at me. Dust swirled around me from the spin of the blades, and a loudspeaker crackled, 'Get your hands in the air!'" he wrote of the moment in his 2024 book, "Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress." This incident was why Christina and Tarek El Moussa finally got divorced. Giving his side of the story, El Moussa denied being suicidal and claimed that he'd taken his gun in case he encountered dangerous animals. Later, in a joint statement of their separation, the couple called May's occurrence "an unfortunate misunderstanding."
Tarek El Moussa was too late to get Christina Hall back
Tarek El Moussa's mental state fell into a sharp decline after his separation from Christina Hall. He started drinking heavily, began avoiding people, and stopped his use of testosterone, which caused him to go into withdrawal. Eventually, his friends pushed him to check into a rehabilitation facility in a last desperate attempt and he agreed. "I didn't trust myself to be alone. That's how bad I was," he explained on Jeff Fenster's podcast (via Instagram).
Describing the situation in his book, El Moussa recalls pulling through his troubled past and deciding to try to fix things with Christina. Unfortunately, he found out that she was in another relationship and wasn't interested in getting back together. "I would say devastating would be an understatement," he admitted.
Eventually, the couple found love with other people. Hall met Ant Anstead in 2017 and married him a year later. Seven months after her wedding, El Moussa met Heather Rae Young, who would eventually become his wife in October 2021. Hall eventually divorced Anstead, but seems to have found Happiness with Joshua Hall, who might be her lucky number three.