We finally know why Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa from HGTV's Flip or Flop got divorced,
and it's a lot more complicated than you might have thought.
Get comfy and we'll fill you in on the details.
Right when Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa were at the height of their HGTV fame in 2013,
things took a turn for the worse. A viewer who was watching Flip or Flop
happened to be a nurse and noticed a lump on El Moussa's throat.
“I’m a registered nurse. I’ve been watching Flip or Flop. I noticed that the host Tarek
has a large nodule on his thyroid, and he needs to get it checked out.”
Unfortunately, according to People, El Moussa was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2013.
And while cancer is never easy for anyone, with how busy El Moussa and
Anstead were with their show, it only put more stress on them as a couple.
While fans saw El Moussa's thyroid cancer struggle play out on Flip or Flop, they didn't see what he
kept secret until 2017, when he revealed he'd been diagnosed with testicular cancer shortly
thereafter. Obviously, this only made things more stressful for El Moussa and Anstead.
El Moussa told Country Living:
"I wasn't healthy for years."
Cancer didn't ruin their marriage, but it couldn't have been easy to deal with as a couple.
For Tarek El Moussa and Christina Anstead, their busy schedule and all of El Moussa's
health concerns certainly brought them plenty of stress. At first,
they tried to work through all their problems by attending therapy together.
For any couple, however, finding time to be together can be hard,
especially when you add in kids, health issues, and a high-pressure job. So it
was for Anstead and El Moussa, which is partly what led to their divorce.
In an interview with People,
El Moussa explained that he and Anstead just didn't make time for each other.
He said:
"We were so busy, we never slowed down to be present with each other
and talk about things that were bothering us.”
So, they went to therapy. And while it's unclear what exactly Anstead and El Moussa
discussed in therapy, it's obvious that the two needed to talk about their marriage. However,
after hashing things out there, the pair realized they needed to separate.
As if cancer and cancer treatments weren't enough of a stressor on Christina Anstead
and Tarek El Moussa's marriage, there was even more going on with El Moussa's health at the
time. As he explained on the Dr. Drew Podcast, he suffered from some hormonal imbalances,
which made his relationship with his then-wife even more complicated.
Specifically, El Moussa explained that his hormones were off,
though it wasn't from the cancer.
He told People:
"I thought it was from my testicular cancer so I went to this botox doctor and hormone
clinic that my ex said to go check out. Next thing I know I'm...taking steroids,
it was testosterone [...]I was on way too much testosterone,
on top of that taking human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) injections every day because I was told to."
“Well, medication, when you’re going through that, makes you act a way that is not you.”
“It cost me so much.”
While Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa were busy filming episode after
episode of Flip or Flop, and El Moussa was dealing with cancer treatments,
they also had something else to consider: more children. While the couple already had a daughter,
Taylor, they had to decide if they wanted more kids, and quickly.
Specifically, because of El Moussa's condition, they had to make some quick decisions.
Anstead told People:
"They said that if you go through radiation, which Tarek had to, then you should not get pregnant
from that sperm from six months to a year. So, right away, we did sperm banking and [tried] IVF."
Unfortunately, the couple had two failed IVF attempts, with one that ended in a tragic
miscarriage at eight weeks. Then, when Anstead got pregnant again, she had to go on strict bed rest.
“And you didn’t know if you were going to be able to conceive again, and all of that,
and here you are pregnant with baby number two. So that has to feel really good.”
“It feels amazing.”
Obviously, all the stress of a miscarriage and IVF can be a lot on any couple, but with
El Moussa's other health issues looming overhead, it only made things even tenser between the two.
Every marriage has its ups and downs, but for Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa,
the downs seemingly never stopped. Between health concerns, work stress,
and raising their children, the couple really never had time to just be together,
and apparently, when they were together, they were mostly fighting.
In an interview with Good Housekeeping shortly after their divorce,
Anstead revealed that she and El Moussa were basically constantly arguing.
She shared:
"We were bickering about things [on-set], and we went home together.”
So obviously, some of the stress from work would probably come home with them,
which isn't good for anyone.
To know anything about Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa's marriage is to know that they weren't
always as fortunate as they appeared to be on Flip or Flop. Yes, they were once pretty broke,
so when Anstead and El Moussa did have the opportunity to purchase fine things together,
they did. However, that didn't stop everything else — including working together, living
together, and parenting together — from having an impact on their marriage. As it turns out,
their sharing absolutely everything might not have been for the best.
In an interview with People, Anstead explained that she and
El Moussa might have been a little too close before they separated.
"Tarek and I were so tied together on everything: real estate, the show, our children, our house.”
The opinions of viewers of Flip or Flop started to get to them-- especially Anstead,
who got seriously annoyed at how the public compared her to El Moussa.
Shortly after Anstead and El Moussa's divorce was made public, an anonymous source revealed
to People that the pair didn't belong together in a somewhat cruel manner.
The insider said:
"In a lot of ways they just seemed wildly incompatible [...] She has
champagne tastes, and he's a beer-from-a-can kind of guy."
And with that comparison, Anstead got frustrated.
In an interview with Good Housekeeping, she said:
"We definitely have the same taste as far as wanting nice things because we work hard,
so if you're going to say it, at least say 'both of them.' Don't just label me."
Though Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa certainly made a lot of money,
that didn't mean everything was all peachy with their budget. Because despite all the
finer things the two owned, they actually had some problems managing their money, it seems.
During an appearance on The Dr. Drew Podcast,
El Moussa explained that part of the reason behind his divorce from Anstead
was that they had some struggles people didn't know about, including with money.
According to House Beautiful, he said on the podcast,
"There's so much going on with TV, and the notoriety, and the finances,
and so many different things happening at one time, and it slowly pulled us apart.”
When you get married, you aren't just marrying one person, you're also marrying their entire family,
for better or for worse. And as it turns out, Christina Anstead's parents might have
played some small role in her divorce from Tarek El Moussa. Well, in a way that is.
As Anstead explained in an interview with Good Housekeeping,
it was really hard for her to come clean to her parents about her
problems with El Moussa, in part because her parents wanted them to stay together.
"Tarek was talking to them more than I was at first, and that made it a little difficult
because they were just hearing his side [...] They were hoping we would be able to reconcile,
especially for the kids, and also because Tarek and I had built such a life together."
Obviously, things between Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa got very stressful towards the end
of their marriage. With all that the pair had been through, things were bound to explode at
some point, though that explosion wasn't quite as dramatic as the public previously assumed.
“There’s a storm coming.”
Specifically, there was an alleged incident in 2017 during which the police were called
to the couple's home; El Moussa was reportedly found with a gun and thought to be suicidal,
according to The Orange County Register.
However, El Moussa soon cleared the air during an appearance on Today,
when he explained that the gun had nothing to do with anything violent.
"I went out for a hike to scout some trails. It wasn't even a big
deal. I didn't understand. It got really blown out of proportion."
“You weren’t suicidal at all?”
“No, no, no. Never.”
Though Anstead and El Moussa had more than their fair share of issues, violence wasn't one of them.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts,
please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.
For a couple who spent so long living their life on television and social media,
Christina Anstead and Terek El Moussa certainly found a way to keep their separation private.
Yes, even some of the people closest to them were surprised to learn that the
two were no longer together, though that might have been for the best.
In an interview with Good Housekeeping,
Anstead explained that she'd preferred to keep her issues on the down low for a long while.
"I wasn't very vocal with them about some of the issues that Tarek and I were having,
so all of the sudden it's like bam – I've moved out, I'm living at my nanny's
house [...] It came as a shock to 99.9 percent of people, including my parents."
For whatever reason, Anstead and El Moussa chose to keep their split a secret at first,
while they did what they had to do.
As it turns out, Tarek and Christina were drifting apart from each other long before their split,
and without strong communication, any relationship is kind of doomed.
In an interview with People, Anstead said that things between her and El
Moussa had just gotten to a point where they were barely speaking.
"I was overwhelmed [...] 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."
Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa made it clear that they struggled as their marriage
dissolved. But to top all that stress off, the pair also had to deal with the public knowing
the inner workings of their relationship, and with a ton of rumors that weren't even remotely true.
According to Country Living, El Moussa said on the Dr.Drew Podcast:
"Let's just be honest, it was awful […]I mean there was more PR about
our divorce than any divorce I think I've ever seen. I mean it was wild,
on every single magazine, on every news outlet, it was just beyond me."
El Moussa wasn't alone in that sentiment.
Anstead explained:
"When our marriage fell apart it was more public than we could have imagined.”
A ton of publicity can't be great on a marriage,
and it likely made things worse for Anstead and El Moussa.
For as well as they might work together in a professional setting,
it's clear that they had to do what was best for them, and that meant
divorcing. And in the end, it was El Moussa who filed for divorce.
According to People, El Moussa's lawyer revealed that he was the one to file;
People also reported that El Moussa was seeking spousal support from Anstead.
Additionally, once the split was announced, Anstead and El Moussa
released a joint statement explaining that their children were their priority.
"During the process, we are committed to our kids and being the best parents we can
be […] We will continue to work through this process civilly and cooperatively,
and plan to continue our professional life together."
Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa did get divorced in a highly publicized manner,
but they handled it all with grace. And more so, so did their daughter.
Anstead and El Moussa's oldest child, daughter Taylor, was obviously impacted by her parents'
divorce. But as it turns out, she's handled it better than anyone could imagine. In an interview
with Good Housekeeping, Anstead explained how she and El Moussa had been taking Taylor to see
a therapist about the divorce and it was Taylor herself who said it was no longer necessary.
"One day, as I was driving her to an appointment, she said,
'I don't need to go to therapy anymore. I think you and Daddy are happier apart,
and I don't really need to talk about it anymore,'" [...] She's very open and
honest with her feelings, but still I was like, 'Wow, that's a big comment for a 6 year old.'"
It was big, but also telling. If their daughter likes them better apart,
then they truly must be happier that way.
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