By Gavin Boyle
Ten years after facing cancer twice, HGTV star Tarek El Moussa reflected on how the uncertainty of the future caused him to focus on the important things, like his family.
“The scariest part for me was not knowing if I was going to live or die. Because at the time, you know, I was young, I had a family, I had my daughter Taylor, and the scariest thing was not knowing if I was going to be around to raise my baby. So, fortunately, it’s been 10 years, I’ve been in remission from both cancers, I’m thriving, the kids are thriving, and we made it,” El Moussa told Fox News Digital.
“Man, cancer is a scary word, and when you’re facing cancer, you know there’s always that potential of death. And, when you’re staring death in the face, it makes you really realize what life is about and what you should be grateful for,” he continued. “So, through my experiences of being sick, it’s given me this level of gratitude that I don’t think I would have had if I didn’t go through such awful experiences.”
El Moussa was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 after a fan of his show wrote a letter expressing their concern for a lump on his neck they noticed during an episode. That lump ended up being thyroid cancer, and further testing also revealed testicular cancer.
Related: Two-Time Cancer Survivor Tarek El Moussa: ‘I Want to Live For My Kids’
Since beating the cancer, El Moussa has focused on changing his lifestyle in order to live a healthier life — allowing him to be more engaged with his kids now and in the future.
“[I’m] healthier than I’ve ever been in my life,” El Moussa previously said. “I’ve never eaten so clean, I’ve never taken so many vitamins, I’ve never gotten so much exercise. So I’m just taking care of my health. I want to live. I want to live for my kids. I want to live for my grandkids. You only get one life. You only have one body.”
He has also worked to reconcile his relationship with Christina Haack, his ex-wife. The couple separated in 2018 after El Moussa’s cancer battle placed too heavy of a burden on their relationship. Though they remain separated, the pair has reconciled enough to restart the house flipping business they built and begin working together again.
“I know we’re in a good place now. But yeah, we went through a lot of stuff,” Haack said in January, per PEOPLE. “I don’t think anyone understands just how much stuff we went through. We met when we were so young. When our stuff imploded, I felt like not only did I lose…we were best friends, but also I felt like I lost, like, I need to be a full-time mom. And that really, really, really hurt me a lot and really affected me.”
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