Flip or Flop's Tarek and Christina El Moussa announced their separation on December 12,
2016, despite putting on a united front on their hit HGTV show.
What happened to this once-golden TV couple?
It turns out, there may have been more issues than the public realized between these two.
Here's the real reason the Flip or Flop stars are divorcing.
Gun and run
According to TMZ, police responded to a call at the El Moussas' Orange County, California
home in May 2016 with a "massive presence," including a helicopter and eleven deputies.
Witnesses claimed Tarek fled through the back door of the house and down a hiking trail
holding a gun while his wife left the house sobbing.
Tarek complied when the officers ordered him to drop his weapon, and he insisted that he
just wanted to hunt rattlesnakes and mountain lions to "blow off some steam."
Police seized five guns from the couple's home.
The Daily Mail reported that a week before the incident, Tarek was spotted at shooting
practice.
After the incident, the El Moussas told People,
"We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago and the police were called
to our house in an abundance of caution.
There was no violence and no charges were filed."
Scammy seminars
Tarek and Christina are both figureheads for "Success Path," a real estate seminar on flipping
houses.
But what they offered didn't go over well with all attendees, which may have produced
the stress that ended their marriage.
In Touch reported that customers in Ohio and Iowa requested their respective Attorney General's
Offices investigate their program.
One Iowa resident claimed the seminar "suckered her" out of more than $41,000, but the Attorney
General's office reportedly helped the complainant recoup all but $3,000 of her losses.
One angry customer in Florida claimed she paid $80,000 for courses and remains $90,000
in debt.
Bad press about their seminars doesn't end there.
The Dallas Morning News reported that the duo were scheduled to appear at a Success
Path seminar, but never showed up.
Other reports suggest they rarely actually show up, and are instead replaced by giant
posters or cardboard cutouts.
Their sales techniques have also been called into question.
Attendee Kirby Lee told the Dallas News,
"If you said 'no thanks'... you were pretty much called a loser and a dolt to your face
by the coaches in the room.
[...] We were encouraged to max out credit cards, increase credit limits, liquidate retirements
and pensions, borrow from relatives."
The El Moussas deny any shadiness, making a statement that read, in part,
"More than 50,000 people have at­tended our seminars over the past three years and there
have been less than 20 complaints.People have gone on to change their lives and achieve
their dreams using our models and strategy."
Health scare
In 2013, a loyal Flip or Flop viewer may have saved Tarek's life.
"When I was watching Flip or Flop on TV at home I noticed that at certain angles and
certain times it caught my eye that Tarek had a lump on his throat, and I thought it
was something that should've been brought to his attention."
Tarek went to the doctor and tested positive for thyroid cancer in June 2013.
He's in remission but admitted it's been a difficult journey, both emotionally and physically,
telling Pop Sugar,
"Getting rid of your thyroid and being given different hormones and T3 and T4, surgery,
and the radioactive iodine [...] It took a long time just to get to the point where I
was feeling better.
And that was just medication-wise, so it was definitely a tough process."
Tarek and Christina were planning on having a second child at the time and had to make
big adjustments to make sure it happened, since Tarek's treatments could have affected
the health of the baby.
The couple experienced two failed attempts at IVF, with one round resulting in a miscarriage,
before conceiving son Brayden in August 2015.
The combined medical stresses may have strained the marriage beyond repair.
A history of dramatic splits
Tarek is no stranger to acrimonious breakups.
Radar Online reported that in 2003, he filed a restraining order against an ex-girlfriend
who he'd broken up with in high school, who stalked and harassed him.
Tarek told Radar,
"She has guys call me saying their [sic] going to f**k me up, key my car, jump me, shoot
me, etc.
She tells people awful things about me that aren't true that threaten my reputation as
a real estate agent.
[...] I think she needs help from a counselor to get over her anger and issues.
I want her to stay 100 percent away from me."
That frightening history may explain the current state of his relationship, and quite possibly
his collection of guns.
Hopefully he'll stay calm and keep from...flipping out.
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