“Flip or Flop” star Tarek El Moussa is increasingly opening up about his turbulent past.
In a new interview with People ahead of the release of his book, “Turn Your Life Around: How to Find Opportunity in Difficult Situations—In Real Estate, Business, and Life,” El Moussa revealed a particularly dark chapter in his life.
“It's part of my story,” he told the outlet. “We are all a product of our environment and I grew up in that environment. To thrive in that environment, you have to do certain things.”
As a teenager, El Moussa was involved in a gang fight that resulted in an arrest, an attempted murder charge, and eventually a brief stay in a juvenile detention center.
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Tarek El Moussa talked about sharing an excerpt from his book, “Turn Your Life Around: How to Find Opportunity in Difficult Situations – in Real Estate, Business, and Life,” saying “it’s part of my story.” (Presley Ann/Getty Images for MTV)
In an excerpt from the book shared with People, El Moussa recalled how he became involved in the incident.
The California-born television personality shared that at the end of her sophomore year, “her parents' worst fears came true. I barely got grades in school and had a terrible attitude.”
He intended to go to his girlfriend's high school graduation, but that same day, a friend who had been abandoned by a girl asked him to go to a park to fight a rival group.
El Moussa and his group were attacked by their rivals with baseball bats and crowbars, he said. He recalled being hit by a bat and wrote: “I tried to jump out of the way, but the bat hit me hard, hard enough to break my ribs. In reaction, I dropped my arm and knocked the bat out of his hands.” . “I grabbed the bat and hit him in the head. He fell to the pavement and was unconscious.”
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El Moussa wrote about being involved in a fight in which he was hit with a bat and pointed it at his attacker. (Noel Vásquez/Getty Images)
He continued: “When I looked up, the park was a mess, all I could hear were police sirens in the distance and all my friends were gone. There were bodies everywhere. But then, on the other side of the park, I saw that a “Second Wave” was gathering. And these weren't teenage boys; these were the older brothers of the boys we had just fought. Some were obviously in their thirties. And they were running towards me with levers. I was seventeen years old, and at that time I was completely alone, that's when the police stopped and saved my life.
“I can't say for sure what happened next, but I must have passed out. When I came to, I was sitting in the back of a police car, handcuffed, charged with assault and battery, aggravated assault, attempted murder, and assault with “Deadly weapon. Today I am convinced that the police arrived at exactly the right time. If they had not arrested me, they would have killed me.”
El Moussa wrote that he spent a couple of nights in jail, “terrified. The charges against me were very serious and I didn't know if I was going to be there for a day, a week or years.”
Finally, his parents contacted a lawyer for their son and “After some investigation, prosecutors discovered that he had used the other guy's bat in self-defense, during a mutual fight. It helped that he had a clean record. They dropped the charges and “They sent me home, but I was on house arrest for about a week. I was still in pain and it took a few weeks for my ribs to heal, but I knew I was lucky to be alive.”
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El Moussa and his wife Heather Rae El Moussa in 2022. In his book, El Moussa stated that he was “lucky to be alive” after his arrest for attempted murder. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
The now 42-year-old also revealed that after the fight, he met with a psychiatrist who prescribed him Dexedrine, a medication that can reduce impulsivity.
“This was the first time I was put on medication for my ADHD and the change I experienced was incredible. It was like everything suddenly slowed down,” she said of the experience.
However, he felt “something was wrong” and “hated” taking the medication at the time. He went on to say that “it took me a while to get the right dosage and the medication has not 'cured' my ADHD in any way, but I am deeply grateful for it.”
In his interview with People about the excerpt, El Moussa said he had been in other dangerous situations, but “that one had the most extreme consequences for me, but it wasn't the most extreme. I've been in shootings, me.” “I've been in knife fights, I've been hit in the face with a bat. You name it, I've had it.”
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El Moussa said he wanted to share his story to show that “right now you can literally be a gang member, rob people and change your life. Anyone can change. You just have to want to.” (Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Discovery Channel)
He continued: “That's why I shared what I shared. [To show] You can literally be a gangbanger right now, robbing people, and you can change your life. Anyone can change. “They just have to want to do it.”
“Turn Your Life Around: How to Find Opportunity in Difficult Situations—In Real Estate, Business, and Life,” will be available on February 6.
