He’s the king of HGTV with a picture-perfect marriage. But behind closed doors cracks are showing…

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Dealing with sleeplessness, a dead phone battery, and a lawsuit from a former employee who is upset with the company.

Tarek El Moussa, age 44, is well-known as a popular figure on HGTV, thanks to his successful home renovation shows and what once seemed like a perfect marriage.

Recently, the man who calls himself the ‘king of house flipping’ has worried people with his unusual activity online. Fans have even publicly asked him if he needs help finding a new house to renovate.

Adding to his challenges, El Moussa faced a battery charge after a fight in Las Vegas, though the case was dropped in June. He’s also dealing with a lawsuit from a former employee who claims they were wrongfully terminated; El Moussa has denied the claims and filed a countersuit.

Tarek El Moussa is currently filming the HGTV show ‘The Flip’ with both his current wife, Heather Rae El Moussa (who also stars on ‘Selling Sunset’), and his former wife, Christina Haack.

However, this TV personality has a history of losing their temper on set, and was recently involved in a heated argument with Heather during a January episode of *The Flipping El Moussas*.

I’ve been a huge fan for years, and honestly, I’m starting to worry about him. All the stress of constantly buying, renovating, and selling houses – plus being in the public eye for so long – seems like it’s really taking a toll. As a dad myself, I especially feel for him and hope he’s okay.

He experiences ups and downs, and it’s often unpredictable which version of him you’ll encounter, according to a source who spoke with the Daily Mail.

The reality TV star is feeling a lot of pressure to ensure his new HGTV show, The Flip Off, does well. This comes after his previous show, The Flipping El Moussas, was canceled after only two seasons in July.

He constantly bites his nails and is unable to relax. It’s as if he flies into a rage, completely losing control and becoming oblivious to his surroundings and who might be watching.

The developer has been struggling to sleep ever since, and that’s why he did a late-night TikTok livestream with his followers earlier this week.

He also mentioned feeling pressured to maintain his current standard of living and support his wife and family.

The couple has admitted their marriage hasn’t always been easy since they got married in 2021 and had their son, Tristan, in January 2023.

At the AI marketing event Zeta Live on Thursday, El Moussa and Heather revealed they are happily attending couples therapy. Heather spoke openly about the challenges they’ve been facing as a couple.

Life is full of highs and lows,” Heather explained. “Marriage can be really difficult, but also incredibly rewarding. Tar and I have faced many challenges as a couple.

Despite everything, we’re really close friends. We enjoy spending time together and often need to keep each other on track.

Of course, filming a reality TV show with your ex-wife comes with its own set of challenges too.

Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack first became famous on HGTV’s *Flip or Flop*, which originally aired in 2013 and ran for ten seasons. The show documented the pair’s work buying, renovating, and selling houses in Orange County, California.

Married from 2009 until 2018, they remained colleagues, continuing to co-host Flip or Flop even after their divorce. Together, they have two children: a 15-year-old daughter named Taylor and a 10-year-old son named Brayden.

I was absolutely shocked when I found out Tarek El Moussa had cancer. It started in 2013 – a viewer actually spotted a lump on his neck and urged him to get it checked, and that turned out to be stage II thyroid cancer. Then, just two months later, he received another devastating diagnosis: testicular cancer. It was a really scary time for all of us who followed the show.

Following a period of recovery in 2019, Tarek El Moussa injured his back and subsequently became addicted to steroids. He has also publicly discussed his previous battle with alcoholism.

Tarek El Moussa’s openness with viewers and his unique relationship with Christina Haack quickly made them popular stars on HGTV.

The show became so popular that it spawned a whole series of related programs, like Christina on the Coast, Flipping 101 with Tarek El Moussa, The Flipping El Moussas, and their newest series, The Flip Off.

The reality show, renewed for a second season last August, challenges former couples to team up and flip a house – buying, renovating, and selling it for a profit, with the team earning the biggest return on their investment winning the competition.

I’ve followed Tarek El Moussa for a while now, and honestly, even with all his success from flipping houses, it seems like he still really needs that boost from people liking his work. A source close to him told me he genuinely wants approval from both his ex-wife, Christina, and his fans – it’s like he’s always seeking that validation.

Oh my god, he’s *always* on his phone, constantly checking what people are saying online! It’s honestly a little worrying. People on set were saying it was distracting, like he couldn’t fully focus when we were filming because he needed to reply to every single comment. And it’s so obvious he’s desperate for Christina’s approval – she totally knows it, and it’s kind of heartbreaking to watch. He just wants her to see how much effort he’s putting in, it’s all he cares about!

A spokesperson refuted reports in the Daily Mail suggesting Tarek El Moussa needs his ex-wife’s approval, calling the claims untrue.

It appears Tarek El Moussa’s frequent use of social media led him to post a recent plea on Instagram. He asked fans for their help locating a property he could renovate for the second season of his show, *The Flip Off*.

Last week, in a video message, Tarek El Moussa explained he was urgently looking for a house to flip for his TV show. He also shared a video on Instagram on September 14th showing him wearing a T-shirt with a ‘Follow Me’ note stuck to it.

A few days later, he polled his TikTok followers to see if they’d be interested in a new version of Flip or Flop featuring Tarek El Moussa, Christina Haack, and his wife, Heather.

Some viewers were curious about Tarek El Moussa’s recent social media activity, but a source familiar with HGTV noted he’s skilled at connecting with his followers.

‘There’s a reason why he was kept [at HGTV] over a lot of safer options,’ they added.

Despite a good rapport with the network, El Moussa’s current legal issues could jeopardize their relationship.

In February, the Daily Mail reported that El Moussa was accused of threatening a former employee and getting angry with an assistant. These accusations came as part of a lawsuit filed by a previous employee, Jeffrey Revoy, who claimed he was wrongly fired.

An expected jury trial is currently scheduled for October 12, 2026.

In August 2023, Revoy, 57, filed a lawsuit against Tarek El Moussa and his partner, Peter de Best. The suit included accusations of breaking their agreement, unfair dismissal, causing emotional distress, damaging his reputation, assault, and failing to stop harassment and retaliation, which Revoy claimed violated the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).

In February 2024, Revoy filed another lawsuit against Tarek El Moussa and his real estate investment company, TEM Capital Management. The lawsuit claims El Moussa and the company violated their contract, didn’t act in good faith, and failed to fulfill their responsibilities to Revoy, among other accusations.

El Moussa officially responded to Revoy’s claims in a court filing in California, denying everything. Then, in June, he filed his own lawsuit challenging the points Revoy made in her 2023 case.

In his counterclaim, El Moussa claimed that others committed several wrongs, including acting negligently, violating their legal obligations to him, and disrupting his potential business opportunities.

In court documents, El Moussa explained that he brought on Revoy as the CEO of his company, Tarek Buys Houses, but Revoy was never officially employed by his other company, Digital Foundation Group.

He stated that Revoy improperly involved himself in DFG’s affairs and tried to get an ownership stake in the company, along with other businesses owned by El Moussa.

Revoy detailed an incident in a complaint, claiming it happened on July 21, 2022, while Tarek El Moussa was filming with HGTV and involved one of his assistants.

According to the complaint, El Moussa became angry and threw a sandwich at an assistant because it lacked mustard, as stated by Revoy.

According to the complaint, someone on the production team was very disturbed by what happened and reported it to HGTV’s Human Resources department.

As far as we know, HGTV’s HR department didn’t take any official action because the person who was hit with the sandwich wasn’t an HGTV employee.

In court documents, Revoy stated that on the same day, a long-time employee who worked closely with El Moussa resigned and reported his ‘inexcusable’ behavior, which included screaming, yelling, using profanity, and name-calling.

Last June, Tarek El Moussa was involved in an incident with another man at the Palazzo hotel in Las Vegas. As a result, he completed counseling to help manage his reactions and impulses. This came to light in August.

According to witnesses, El Moussa knocked the man unconscious by hitting him in the head with his knee. Reports to the Daily Mail stated that this happened while El Moussa was protecting his elderly father during an argument.

Tarek El Moussa plans to fight the accusations in court, claiming he was acting in self-defense and protecting his sick and elderly father, according to his lawyers, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, in a statement to TMZ.

The HGTV personality was not arrested but he was charged with misdemeanor battery. 

The charges against him were dropped on August 5th after he successfully completed the court’s diversion program and provided verification of his completion.

Even with his legal issues, Tarek El Moussa has brought in record viewership for HGTV, where he’s worked for many years.

The new HGTV show, The Flip Off, quickly became a hit when it debuted in January, becoming the network’s most popular new series in over two years.

Tarek El Moussa sometimes makes surprising choices on social media, but it would take a serious issue to significantly damage his reputation with HGTV fans.

‘It’s so far so good,’ our second source said. ‘What’s he going to do next? We don’t know.’

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2025-10-11 15:36