Tarek El Moussa Reveals He Had Testicular and Thyroid Cancer at the Same Time, Talks Split From Christina
Flip or Flop star Tarek El Moussa is revealing his secret battle with testicular cancer.
The 35-year-old reality star appeared on the Today show on Tuesday -- while his ex, Christina, appeared on Good Morning America -- and shared that he was actually diagnosed with testicular cancer around the same time that he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Tarek was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2013, which was caught by a fan who wrote in after noticing a lump on Tarek's neck.
"Getting the thyroid cancer was hard enough, and then a few weeks later, learning I had testicular cancer, I literally thought I was gonna die," Tarek says.
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"I just didn't want to come out with it," he adds about why he chose to stay private about his testicular cancer. "It was more of a personal thing."
Thankfully, the father of two says both cancers are in remission. However, he says he's decided to speak out about his testicular cancer since his stepfather is now battling testicular cancer as well.
"For me, the main reason I'm coming out is to create awareness," he explains. "I know that when I came out with thyroid cancer, a lot of people found out they also had thyroid cancer. So, I feel it's something I had to do."
Tarek also gets candid about his split from Christina, and says the two "got distant from each other" as time went on, leading to their breakup.
"We tried the counseling, it just wasn't working," he acknowledges. "It doesn't mean we're not going to remain friendly, because the number one goal is to co-parent our children, and we have to remain friendly because we know how important it is for them to have good parents."
Tarek also admits that there have been challenges continuing to work alongside 33-year-old Christina on their hit HGTV show, amid their highly publicized split. The two are currently filming season seven.
"I'm not gonna lie, I'm not gonna say it was easy," he admits. "It's like anything, there's challenges in life. I mean, we love filming -- that's our job. We've been doing it a long time, and we love releasing a good product for our fans. We just had to fight through it, and be the best we could, and I think it turned out great."
Just last week, Tarek shared a sweet photo of their kids -- 6-year-old Taylor and 1-year-old Brayden -- on the set of Flip or Flop.
"I love creating #memories on camera together... many many #years from now we will sit with our #grandkids and binge watch #fliporflop!!" he wrote. "So #lucky to do what we do! Just LOVE them."
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