Talk about a roller-coaster! Christina Haack and Tarek El Moussa‘s ups and downs started well before they called it quits in 2016.
The reality stars tied the knot in May 2009, four years before their HGTV series catapulted them into the spotlight. Things took a turn when El Moussa was diagnosed with two forms of cancer in 2013 after a Flip or Flop viewer — who happened to be a registered nurse — brought a concern to producers’ attention.
“No joke, I thought I was going to die,” El Moussa exclusively told Us Weekly several years after his health scare. “I was like, ‘Two cancers?’ … [But Christina] helped me out a lot. She made sure I took all my meds and she had to make certain meals for me.”
Through it all, the licensed real estate agent wanted to put on a brave face. “I literally filmed ’til the day I went into my surgery, and within two weeks after, I was back on camera,” he told Us. “It was definitely difficult to do, but it definitely pushed my mental strength to the limits. … I just kept moving forward.”
While the pair continued to get along on camera, it was seemingly a different story behind closed doors. In May 2016, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department was called the duo’s home after an altercation, with 11 deputies responding to a “possibly suicidal male with a gun.” At the time, authorities told Us that El Moussa “had no intention of hurting himself” and cooperated when asked to give up possession of his firearms. By the end of the year, the twosome called it quits.
