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‘Flip or Flop’ Star Tarek El Moussa Blames Divorce on Fame, Cancer, Lack of Communication

Getting to the root of the issue. Flip or Flop star Tarek El Moussa opened up about his divorce from his wife of seven years, Christina, during an interview on The Doctors, blaming their split on his cancer and a lack of communication.

“I feel like if we had better communication, we would have had a better relationship,” the 35-year-old reality star told the show’s hosts in the interview, set to air on Monday, March 6. “I think as time went on, you get busier and busier — and, you know, it was overnight. Businesses, TV, all these things happened at once, and then the cancer, then the cancer, then the back surgery. It just kind of started pushing us apart from each other.”

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Tarek and Christina, 33, announced their decision to divorce last December, though the pair had already quietly split in May 2016 after a scary incident involving Tarek fleeing the couple’s $2 million Yorba Linda, California, home with guns in his backpack.

Tarek El Moussa and Christina El Moussa
Tarek and Christina El Moussa on Sept. 15, 2016, in New York City. Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

But even that, Tarek said, was a “misunderstanding,” explaining, “I have a CCW [carrying a concealed weapon] permit in California. I’ve gone through the training, the schooling and everything.”

Late last month, Tarek exclusively revealed to Us that in addition to the thyroid cancer that he battled in 2013, he was also diagnosed with testicular cancer one month later.

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“I had thyroid cancer in 2013. One month later they found out I had testicular cancer,” he told Us. “It was very difficult on me. My hormones were way off. It affected me. It’s been three years of hell. I was devastated when I found out. So was Christina.”

The exes, who share two kids — daughter Taylor, 6, and son Brayden, 18 months — will continue to film their popular HGTV show together. On Thursday, February 23, the estranged spouses were spotted goofing off while on set.

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“It’s like anything. You have good days and bad days,” he told Us. “It was a stressful time, but we had to do our job. Our job is to film a show and flip houses. But our most important job is to coparent.”

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