HGTV Star Tarek El Moussa Details Attempted Murder Arrest

HGTV star Tarek El Moussa is opening up about his previous attempted murder arrest in his new book, "Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress—in Real Estate, Business, and Life."

The 42-year-old, who now has a son, Tristan Jay, had some dark times in his life, including overcoming addiction, beating cancer, and an attempted murder arrest, which he spent a short time in a juvenile detention center for.

The co-host of HGTV's 'Flip or Flop' grew up in a dangerous environment, filled with gangs and fights, but he says that going through that part of his life helped shape him into the man he is today.

"Both of my parents were fully aware of the dangerous alternatives out there. The neighborhood where we lived was not so much white collar or blue collar as 'no collar.' True, the little pocket where we lived had some up-and-comers; it was where I got my first glimpse of some of the finer things in life. But it was the least rough neighborhood in a very rough area," he explained.

"Parts of Lakewood and Buena Park were heavily influenced by gangs," he added. "By the time I started junior high school, I was looking over my shoulder a lot. One after another, guys I knew from school got drawn into the gangs, and I saw the awful consequences when that happened. I made a conscious decision to point my life in a different direction. But first, I had to survive."

Surviving included getting into gang fights, one of which landed him in a juvenile detention center.

"I've been in shootings, I've been in knife fights, I've been hit in the face with a bat. You name it, I've had it," he said of his childhood.

There was one incident where he squared off with a group of guys who rolled up in two SUVs and had baseball bats and crowbars.

"The two sides squared off in the middle of the park. A few words were exchanged, then mayhem erupted," he recalled. "Fists flew, and so did the baseball bats. During the free-for-all, an older guy—maybe nineteen or twenty—stepped toward me and swung his bat. I tried to jump out of the way, but the bat connected, hard—hard enough to break my ribs."

"As a reaction, I dropped my arm and knocked the bat out of his hands," he continued. "I grabbed the bat and hit him in the head. He dropped to the pavement and went unconscious."

"That’s when the police pulled up and saved my life," the HGTV star said. "I was sitting in the back of a police car, in handcuffs, charged with assault and battery, aggravated assault, attempted murder, and assault with a deadly weapon."

"I'll never forget. I was terrified when I was [in the juvenile detention center] because the charges I had were really bad charges, and I didn't know if I was going to be there for days or years," the HGTV star told PEOPLE. "I still got in a little bit of trouble here and there," he says, "but it was a big enough incident where it made me really, really think about things."

"Today I’m convinced that the police arrived at exactly the right moment," he said, adding, "If I hadn’t been arrested, I would have been killed."

Although that time of his life was tough, he said, "It's part of my story."