Tarek El Moussa Revisits Harrowing Gun Incident that Pushed Him into a 'Mental Spiral' amid Divorce from Ex Christina Hall

Natalia Senanayake is an Editorial Assistant, Lifestyle at PEOPLE. She covers all things travel and home, from celebrities' luxury mansions to breaking travel news.

Tarek El Moussa is finding it easier to talk about one of the darkest chapters in his life.

During a June 7 interview on the Tamron Hall show alongside wife Heather Rae El Moussa, Tarek, 42, opened up about having to relive the infamous 2016 gun incident that led to his divorce from his first wife, Christina Hall

Tarek tells Tamron that revisiting the harrowing moment was “very difficult” for him while writing his book Flip Your Life (released in February). He adds that it was the “worst experience of his life” because of how the incident was spun out of context.

“I was in a mental spiral but not looking to hurt myself. My mental spiral was affecting me to the point where I needed to be alone and go for a hike and blow off steam and get out energy,” he says, adding, “I got babies, I’m not going to hurt myself. It’s not fair to them.”

The Flip or Flop alum shares daughter Taylor, 13, and son Brayden, 8, with Christina, as well as son Tristan, 15 months, with wife Heather.

Seven years after the scary ordeal, Tarek finally told his side of the story in his memoir.

He wrote that he and Christina got into a heated argument that day, so he decided to get some exercise at Chino Hills State Park and bring a .38-caliber pistol to protect himself in case he ran into any wildlife.

Tarek described his interaction with his ex-wife beforehand as a “blowup” fight. Christina called 911 out of concern for Tarek, and police later flooded the park in an effort to find him.

The incident is what ended their seven-year marriage in 2016.

Tarek called the weeks immediately after the split as “physical and emotional hell” during an exclusive interview with PEOPLE in February.

He says he was drinking himself unconscious, hiding out on his boat, and going through extreme withdrawal from the testosterone he’d been taking until friends stepped in to get him to a rehab facility.

Despite the downfall of their marriage, he told PEOPLE that he holds no hard feelings against his ex-wife anymore.

“I hold nothing against Christina. I understand why she did what she did. We had a lot of hard years through my sicknesses and my mental health struggles from the testosterone,” he said.

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Now, the exes are collaborating on a new HGTV series together with their respective spouses. The Flip Off, announced in May, will follow Heather, 36, and Tarek as they compete against Christina and her husband Josh, 43.

The new series is set to premiere in 2025 and marks Tarek and Christina's first time working together since March 2022 when their show Flip or Flop ended after nine years.

For more information about Tamron Hall and to see show times and channels, visit www.TamronHallShow.com.

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