Tarek El Moussa Admits Ex-Wife Christina Hall 'Leaving' Was the 'Best' and 'Worst Thing': 'It Forced Me to Rebuild My Life'

Rebuilding houses comes easy for Tarek El Moussa — but went it comes to rebuilding his life, well, that's a different story.

In a new interview published Monday, February 5, the HGTV star reflected on the darkest time period of his life in 2016 — when he was hit with back-to-back thyroid and testicular cancer treatments and a back injury, found himself suffering from anxiety, panic attacks and depression and ultimately watched his 8-year marriage to Christine Hall crumble before his eyes.

"I was a mess for quite a few years," El Moussa recently admitted to a news publication, confessing: "I was on opiates for about a year: Percocet, Dilaudid, Vicodin."

Treatments for the Flip or Flop alum's back injury caused him to lose 75 pounds, El Moussa revealed, stating: "You could see the bones in my chest."

In an effort to treat his multitude of troubles, El Moussa started taking testosterone injections, though this decision "was the end of me," he shared. "I did not react well to the testosterone and my hormones were all over the place because I had no thyroid."

"In 2016 my life imploded," he described of the spiraling chain of events.

The last straw for his ex-wife wasn't until May of that year, when a fight between him and Hall caused him to jump over their backyard fence and into a nearby nature area with a .38-caliber pistol.

El Moussa said he fled to "blow off some steam," however, he understood why Hall called the police to report her husband was possibly suicidal.

"I knew there was a major problem because inside, I was dying," he realized. "It's so hard to explain. People that are suffering with mental health issues, you can't control it. It's almost like it's out of your hand. And then you throw in the testosterone and the hormones and the pills and you're just not the same human anymore."

Just seven months later, the dynamic duo announced they were calling it quits on their marriage.

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"Christina left me and it was heartbreaking," El Moussa recalled. "At the same time, looking back 20/20 hindsight, you know, I understand why she did."

Aside from failing to show up as a husband during this time period, El Moussa also knows he wasn't the best father to his and Hall's two children — daughter Taylor, 13, and son Brayden, 8.

"I wasn't a great dad. I wasn't even a good dad. I wasn't around. I was stressed all the time," he expressed. "I know I wasn't a good guy. But at the same time, I know that wasn't me. I was sick. But I had done so much damage that it was at the point of no return."

Looking back on the situation, El Moussa acknowledged: "The best thing that happened to me in my life, and the worst thing, was [Christina] leaving. Because it forced me to completely rebuild my life."

El Moussa later married Heather Rae El Moussa (née Young) in 2021 before welcoming a son Tristan, 1, last year with the Selling Sunset star.

E! News interviewed El Moussa.