5 Rumors About Tarek El Moussa We Can't Ignore

For years now, Tarek El Moussa has been a fixture on HGTV, working alongside his ex-wife, Christina Haack, before and after their 2018 divorce, as well as his current wife, Heather Rae El Moussa. However, during his time in the spotlight, El Moussa has weathered quite a few media scandals and controversies as he's navigated the turbulent waters of tabloid exposes, social media mishaps, relationship turmoil, and allegations of shady dealings on his hit TV show. 

El Moussa is a father of three and shares two children with Haack: – daughter Taylor, born in September 2010, and son Brayden, born in August 2015. He also shares a son with Heather — Tristan, born in January 2023. El Moussa has always been an outspokenly devoted father to his kids, but fatherhood seemingly hasn't tempered his anger issues, as he's reportedly had numerous blow-ups while filming with his ex-wife, both on their old show, "Flip or Flop," and their follow-up series, "The Flip Off."

Despite his fame and popularity, El Moussa has developed a reputation for his temper and for exacerbating tensions between himself, his ex-wife, and the men Haack went on to marry (and subsequently divorce). Try as he might to paint a rosy picture of his life with countless Instagram photos and TV appearances, there are a few persistent rumors about the HGTV star we just can't ignore.

In July 2021, Tarek El Moussa reportedly lashed out at his ex-wife and co-star, Christina Haack, while filming an episode of "Flip or Flop." TMZ reported at the time that El Moussa went off on Haack after an on-set disagreement and allegedly called Haack a "washed-up loser." Amid the ranting rage, El Moussa reportedly insulted Haack by unfavorably comparing her attractiveness to his then-fiancée, Heather Rae Young.

El Moussa also supposedly slung vile insults at Haack, including telling her, "The world knows you're crazy," and yelling that he delights in watching Haack fail before El Moussa stormed off. According to TMZ, this incident was intense but not entirely surprising as the pair reportedly had blow-ups that had slowed down filming before. 

In March 2025, they got into a screaming match during the Season 1 finale of their new HGTV house-flipping competition series, "The Flip Off," in which they got into a fight over who had reached out to guest judge Jeff Lewis to be on the show. Haack claimed, "I slid into his DMs and begged him to do this." In response, El Moussa made a brutal dig at her multiple failed marriages and coldly quipped, "Yeah, you're used to doing that. That's how you find all those husbands."

Tarek El Moussa has developed something of an unfortunate reputation for on-set blow-ups, and not just directed toward people he used to be married to. A former employee who worked for one of El Moussa's companies, Jeffrey Revoy, filed multiple lawsuits against the "Flip or Flop" star and his business partner in 2023 and 2024, which included claims of wrongful termination, defamation, breach of contract, assault, and a litany of other claims. In one of his filings, Revoy detailed an alleged incident between El Moussa and his personal assistant in July 2022.

"El Moussa lost his temper and threw a sandwich at one of his assistants, complaining that it did not have mustard," Revoy claimed in his lawsuit (via The Daily Mail). Revoy alleged that someone on the crew filed a complaint with HGTV's human resources over the food hurling incident. However, because El Moussa's personal assistant didn't work for the network directly, they were unable to actually step in and take action. "On the same day, a long-time employee of El Moussa (who worked directly with him) submitted a letter of resignation in which she reported 'inexcusable' behaviors, including 'screaming, yelling, cussing and calling names,'" Revoy said. His allegations detailed a pattern of inappropriate and disrespectful treatment of his employees by El Moussa.

After Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack were divorced, she began a romance with English TV personality Ant Anstead, which soon led to marriage. Haack and Anstead tied the knot in December 2018, less than a year after finalizing her divorce from El Moussa. According to El Moussa, he learned about the marriage via Instagram and was stunned by the news. "I was on my bed scrolling social media and there it was: a picture of her and Anstead and it says, 'just married.' I didn't know anything about it," El Moussa said during an episode of "The Flip Off" in February 2025 (via People).

El Moussa claimed he then decided to message Anstead — who was suddenly the step-dad to El Moussa and Haack's two young children — and told him, "Please treat my kids as your own," although El Moussa said that Anstead never messaged him back. Anstead and Haack wound up welcoming a son of their own, Hudson, in September 2019 but announced their separation one year later, and she filed for divorce in November 2020.

Anstead later appeared as a guest judge on an episode of El Moussa and Haack's "The Flip Off," where tensions still seemed to be running high. During his episode — which also stars El Moussa's second wife, Heather Rae El Moussa – Anstead seemingly got annoyed at the banter between Tarek and their mutual ex-wife and pointedly quipped, "Once you guys stop flirting with each other, let's get into it. Cause we're here to do a job" (per People). Heather, meanwhile, seemed annoyed that Anstead had made that observation and warned him not to suggest her husband and Haack were flirting. There were just awkward and uncomfortable vibes all around.

In May 2016, police got a call about "a possibly suicidal male with a gun" from Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack's home in Orange County, TMZ reported. El Moussa and Haack had gotten into a huge fight, and El Moussa reportedly pulled out a gun and ran out into the woods with it, leaving Haack shaking and in tears. A large police presence responded, and a helicopter spotted El Moussa on a trail just a few minutes after his exit from their home. El Moussa said at the time that he simply wanted to "blow off some steam," and the gun was in case of dangerous animals, not to harm himself.

Speaking with E! News in February 2024, El Moussa explained what led to the incident with police officers. "I really wasn't doing good ... [I] hated my life, hated myself. I just hated being alive," he said. "So I decided to go blow off steam, hike some trails." El Moussa claimed that he'd just recently been approved for a permit to carry a concealed weapon and decided to take a gun along for his angry post-argument hiking excursion. When the police officers arrived, they terrified El Moussa. "I swear everything slowed down, it was like a movie and there's these dust clouds everywhere, 11 sheriffs come up, they pull out their guns, they have me at gunpoint, they're screaming at me," he said. Shortly after this jarring incident, El Moussa and Haack's marriage came to an end.

The drama in Tarek El Moussa's personal life isn't the only sort of scandal he's been involved in over the past decade. As it turns out, El Moussa has faced some heat numerous times over different shady aspects of his businesses and his TV show. The legal controversies have included everything from lawsuits filed by former employees to getting named in a restraining order issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for their alleged endorsement of a scam company.

In 2017, Jonathan Schmier of North Carolina sued El Moussa, claiming that he'd been hired to look into available homes for El Moussa's company, Next Level Property Investments, and was owed "back wages in the amount of $12,800" as well as "commission in the amount of $25,000," according to court docs (via E! News). A source told the outlet that Schmier's claims were "absurd," and HGTV backed El Moussa.

In October 2019, El Moussa and ex-wife Christina Haack were also named in an FTC lawsuit filed against Zurixx, LLC, a company that allegedly offered consumers a free real estate seminar but would then use the seminar as a way of advertising and promoting their very not-free services and products. El Moussa and Haack were among a number of different HGTV stars named in the suit and the protective order due to their alleged endorsement of Zurixx, LLC. HGTV, however, released a statement distancing themselves from the company, telling Fox News Digital, "HGTV, its sister networks, and its parent company are neither associated or affiliated with Zurixx, nor are we involved in any of our talents' personal business associations with Zurixx." It's clear that between his personal life and business dealings, there is enough scandal about Ell Moussa to keep people interested.