HGTV
While a lot of focus has been on HGTV stars Tarek and Christina El Moussa’s dramatic split, Tarek has now revealed that amidst his known battle with thyroid cancer he soon found out he also had testicular cancer.
“I had thyroid cancer in 2013. One month later they found out I had testicular cancer. It was very difficult on me. My hormones were way off. It affected me. It’s been three years of hell,” the 35-year-old stated. “I was devastated when I found out. So was Christina.” He went on to explain that he had to undergo emergency surgery for the testicular cancer and then had to endure months of radiation treatments. “It took a big toll on me. It kicked my butt.”
The Flip or Flop star also revealed that he chose to speak out now about his testicular cancer because he wants to send a message to others. “One of the motivating factors for me doing it now is that my stepfather was just diagnosed. No matter your age, go to the doctor if you think something is wrong.”
Meanwhile all focus remains on Tarek and Christina’s split which happened in May 2016 but wasn’t discovered until six months later and now Tarek has officially filed for divorce. Despite the split, the pair are continuing to work together on their hit series. On Good Morning America, Christina El Moussa stated, “Honestly, despite everything, I’m doing really, really, really good. Tarek and I met 10 years ago at work and went through a market crash, we went through [Tarek’s] cancer, infertility. Now we’re going through a very public divorce but, despite everything, our primary focus is and always will be our kids. We continue to work together and there’s a lot of false stories and a lot of hype, but in the end we’re just normal, nice people who just want to be the best parents and coworkers that we can be. Tarek and I are friends and we have a lot of support from our family.”