HGTV’s Tarek El Moussa Says He Used to Be a ‘Raging Alcoholic’

Heavy/HGTV HGTV's Tarek El Moussa

This holiday season, longtime HGTV star Tarek El Moussa is feeling especially grateful for second chances. The home flipping expert says that writing his new book, due out in February 2024, has forced him to revisit and reflect on a time when he was “drinking my life away.”

In recent social media posts, El Moussa, 42, has shared his struggles with alcohol dependency and depression, including a night when he said he downed 30 shots of vodka.

“At one point in my life, I used to sleep 12 to 14 hours a day,” he revealed in an Instagram post on December 11, 2023. “I slept so much not only because I was drunk but because I hated being awake.”

The star of “The Flipping El Moussas”, who’s now a dad of three and married to fellow reality TV star Heather El Moussa, wrote that he’s sharing the unflattering details of his journey with the hope it inspires others to turn their lives around like he did.

Here’s what you need to know:

Tarek El Moussa Says He Became a ‘Raging Alcoholic’ at 20

In September, El Moussa announced that his upcoming book — “Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress―in Real Estate, Business, and Life” — will reveal how he turned his life around after facing major challenges, including how he turned to alcohol when his baseball career was derailed by a shoulder injury in college. 

He’s begun to share details of those dark times on social media, revealing just how bleak things got. On December 4, he shared a throwback photo of himself on a boat with a can in his hand.

“I will never forget this day… or this kid,” he wrote. “I was 20 years old fishing for King salmon in Alaska. Unfortunately, all I remember was the terrible hangover I had. I had drank over 30 shots of vodka and whatever else I could get my hands on.”

“I can still feel the throbbing in my head and the pulsing vein on my temple,” El Moussa continued. “But…I was pretty used to it since I was drinking my life away anyways. Most people don’t know this about me, but at 19 my life went downhill in what felt like over night.”

El Moussa wrote that he “gained 50 pounds, lost my confidence, lost my hope, and became a raging alcoholic.”

“All my drive was gone,” he continued. “It’s crazy to think today I sometimes wake up at 3am to start work, when at 20, I would wake up at 3pm to start my day. We all deserve a second chance.”

In El Moussa’s Instagram post on December 11, he explained that as a young man, he was consumed with negative thoughts about himself.

“I hated having to deal with the inner voice in my head haunting me telling me what a loser I was,” he wrote. “I hated myself and I hated my life. Every day I wallowed away in self pity and misery!”

El Moussa obviously overcame that difficult period to become “a successful, hardworking family man that you’ve seen on tv for over a decade” and said he hopes to show others how they, too, can “flip” their lives.

Tarek El Moussa Also Went Through a ‘Dark’ Period During His Divorce

While El Moussa is relieved to have overcome his dependency on alcohol as a young man, it turned out not to be the darkest time in his life. In 2013, he beat thyroid and testicular cancer in 2013, per People. But hormones he was given as part of his treatment, combined with painkillers and steroids for a back injury, turned out to be a terrible combination.

On “The Dr. Drew Podcast” in 2018, he revealed, “I was on like 10 Vicodin every day, and on top of that my meds are off, my hormones are off, I’m on pain meds and narcotics and I’m filming and I’m working. It was a really rough three, four years.”

In early 2023, he told Fox News Digital that he hit his “rock bottom” in 2016, describing himself as “lonely, depressed, sad, almost giving up” as he and his first wife — and former “Flip or Flop” co-star — Christina Hall separated.

The couple, who share 13-year-old daughter Taylor and eight-year-old son Brayden, finalized their highly publicized divorce in 2018. El Moussa married “Selling Sunset” star Heather Rae Young (now El Moussa), in 2021 and they have a nine-month-old Tristan.

Between his family life and busy work life, El Moussa has said he has never been happier.

“I honestly, I mean, this is the happiest, hands down, the happiest I’ve ever been in my life,” he told Fox. “You know, I love being in my forties. I love being established. I love my family. I love my wife. I love my kids. Like, I couldn’t be happier, and that’s the truth.”