Real estate investor Tarek El Moussa became a TV star flipping houses on HGTV.
He was recently given the biggest rehabilitation project in his life.
And HGTV star Tarek El Moussa made this life-changing decision after a scary situation.
Property flipper Tarek El Moussa changes his life after a battle with cancer
Real estate guru Tarek El Moussa became one of the biggest personalities on HGTV starring on shows like Flip or Flop with his ex-wife, Christina Hall, and Flipping 101 with Tarek El Moussa.
He became an expert at transforming homes but he realized he needed to change his life after a thyroid cancer diagnosis in 2013.
A fan watching HGTV saw an alarming bump on his neck and urged him to go see a doctor.
In another blow, El Moussa was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
He managed to beat both cancers when they went into remission.
Shortly after his battle with cancer, he suffered a serious back injury playing golf.
The back injury created another medical hurdle for El Moussa who called it “debilitating” in his book, Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress in Real Estate, Business, and Life.
“On a typical day, I would swallow eight or ten painkillers just to get through the day,” El Moussa wrote. “Between the Vicodin and the Dilaudid and the morphine, I was high as a kite all day long.”
He finally decided to get back surgery after dealing with more than a year of pain.
“I got my first cancer in 2013. I was fighting cancers in ’13 and ’14, and I had surgeries, and then for a few months I got better,” El Moussa told People. “And then in ’15, I hurt my back. For a year I could barely work. And then after that, I had that awful surgery with complications. So for four years, I just lived through hell.”
El Moussa’s personal life was also upended when he divorced his wife and Flip or Flop co-star Christina Hall.
He knew that he had to turn his life around.
Tarek El Moussa undergoes shocking personal transformation
El Moussa told Fox News Digital that he ramped up his efforts to get in shape over the past three years at the Alzheimer’s Association California Southland Chapter’s Magic of Music Gala.
“The health journey has really been since 2013, but I really stepped it up in the past three years,” El Moussa explained. “It’s amazing what we really can do when we focus and we set goals, and you know, Heather has been a huge part of that, cleaning up my diet and really motivating me to take better care of my health.”
He married his new wife Heather Rae El Moussa in 2021.
“I’m almost 43 years old, I feel better and I look better than I have in 30 years, so it’s working pretty well,” El Moussa said.
His journey to changing his life came from focusing on the basics, which he admitted were challenging.
“Wake up early, take vitamins, limit alcohol, eat really healthy,” El Moussa stated. “I’ve become very used to doing things I don’t want to do.”
Tarek El Moussa managed to overcome hardship to come out stronger on the other end.
