Tarek and Heather El Moussa's relationship timeline: from a boat meet-cute to their first child together

Season six of Selling Sunset is finally here and fans are excited to get caught up with their favorite California real estate specialists—and that includes Heather and Tarek El Moussa. 

The new season is packed with drama—from lingering feelings between exes Chrishell Stause and Jason Oppenheim, Chrishell's new relationship and her beef with reality TV newbie Nicole Young.

And of course, the question that will be on everyone's minds—are Tarek and Heather still together? The property-obsessed pair met in July 2019 and kicked off a fast-paced romance, moving in together only weeks into the relationship. But where do Heather Rae Young and Tarek El Moussa stand now—and how has their relationship progressed?

Here's what we know about the pair and what is set to go on between them in Selling Sunset season 6. 

The latest update on Tarek and Heather

Heather and Tarek are absolutely still together—as fans will know, Selling Sunset season 5 actually featured their highly-anticipated wedding.

Actually, the pair's relationship has progressed hugely since then. Not only are they married, but since season 5, the couple have also welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named Tristan! Tristan was born in January 2023, making him currently four months old. 

In fact, Heather's bump and baby shower was one of the clues we here at My Imperfect Life used to find out exactly when Selling Sunset season 6 was filmed...

Who is Tarek El Moussa? 

Tarek El Moussa is best known for being one half of the duo that hosts the hit HGTV series Flip or Flop. Fun fact: Tarek also has a real estate license, which he got in 2002 at the age of 21, and was super successful in the industry until the 2008 economic crisis when the business he shared with ex-wife Christina Haack began to struggle. 

It’s at that point the then-couple got into flipping houses for cash and during their first flip, Tarek submitted an audition tape to HGTV that landed them the 10-season-long hit show.

Who is Heather Rae Young? 

Heather Rae Young/Heather Rae El Moussa, as she is now known, modeled for Playboy before entering into real estate, and was featured as the magazine's Miss February in 2010. When she reflected on her experience as a Playmate, she said: "If I hadn’t posed for Playboy, I wouldn’t have met the people who led me to where I am now. Playboy got me used to being in front of crowds and being good on camera.” 

Young also used to be a Pilates instructor and has a history on TV, with a guest appearance as Tina in "The Baby" episode of the comedy TV series Til Death, as well as Tarek’s show Flipping 101 with Tarek El Moussa. She received her real estate license in 2014. It's reported that she then joined The Oppenheim Group in 2015.

How did Tarek and Heather meet? 

The couple met on July 4, 2019, when they were cruising on separate boats off the coast of Newport Beach, California. It was when both their boats were docked near each other that Heather realized that she had a mutual friend on Tarek’s boat and went over to speak to them, and sparks flew between Heather and Tarek. Tarek’s sister revealed a text message from Tarek at Heather’s bridal show where she revealed Tarek was heartbroken when she left the boat to go back on hers and that he thought he'd met the one. 

After that meeting, they went on a date and were caught by TMZ on July 28, 2018, in Redondo Beach, California, before revealing their relationship to their fans on Instagram on August 8, 2019.

On the "Not Skinny Not Fat" podcast, Tarek and Heather revealed they actually first connected when he slid into Heather's Instagram DMs a few months before she started filming season one of Selling Sunset, but that she was in a relationship at the time. 

But things clearly got serious fairly quickly, as in November and December 2019, the couple enjoyed their first Thanksgiving and Christmas together, with Thanksgiving Day being spent in Amsterdam and Paris and Christmas Day with Tarek’s children. 

How long have Tarek and Heather been together?

In July 2023, the couple will have been together for four years. They moved in together mere weeks after starting their relationship. Talk about moving quick! 

Are Tarek and Heather married? 

The couple got married on October 23, 2021, near Santa Barbara, California. Heather wore a Galia Lahav gown and the couple filmed their wedding for an HGTV special, Tarek & Heather: The Big I Do. Heather also made an incredibly sweet gesture at the wedding when she not only made vows to Tarek, but to his children Taylor and Brayden too, during the ceremony.

The couple got engaged after just over a year together, with Tarek popping the question to Heather on the beach. Tarek said it was the love Heather had for his children that confirmed his love for her—and so he shared that there was no question in his mind when he proposed with an eight-carat diamond.

Heather's relationship with Tarek’s kids

Back in season 4, this was a major question for Heather’s co-workers at the Oppenheim Group, as Amanza Smith asked Heather whether she’d met Tarek’s kids yet. 

On the same day they announced their relationship on Instagram, Tarek and Heather did an interview with Entertainment Tonight where Tarek revealed he had introduced Heather to his family the night before: "I introduced her to my kids last night for the first time. My mom, my dad, my mom's husband, my sister. So, we're doing it! Very excited."

It seems as though, since then, Heather has become incredibly close with Tarek's kids, regularly sharing pictures of all four of them (now five!) on her Instagram page.

In reference to the vows she and Tarek made to the children, she confessed in an Instagram post: "These kids are truly our everything, so we decided to say our vows first to the kids and second to each other. 

"This is just a tiny portion of what I said to the kids, but I truly meant every word: When your daddy and I decided to be fully committed, I was 100 percent committing myself to you too. I am beyond honored to be your bonus mommy. Thank you for allowing me to love your daddy with all my heart. I love you both more than you will ever know.”

Heather also revealed to Us Weekly in April 2021 that she and Tarek co-parent really well with the kids' mother, Christina Haack: “We communicate daily about the kids, and they’re the most important thing in the world to all of us. So, as long as the kids are happy, we’re all happy.”

Christina and Heather also have a good relationship, as Tarek revealed they had met during an appearance on GMA3 where he only gave five minutes' notice that they would be meeting each other. He said to Christina Haack: "I was like, 'Oh, I'm coming over to see the kids. By the way, my girlfriend is coming. See you in five!'" 

Haack also shared with Us Weekly that she and Heather even shared recipes with each other during lockdown: “She’ll, like, send me whatever her favorite go-to granola bar is, and I’ll text her back, like, whatever mine is.”

What do we know about Tarek and Heather's child, Tristan?

The couple revealed that they had started the process of IVF shortly after getting married. 

Before meeting Tarek, Heather revealed that she didn't think she wanted to have children but spending time with him and his kids changed her mind. 

Heather found out that she had a low egg count in her 20s so she decided to freeze her eggs and create embryos through IVF. Heather even documented her whole IVF process on her Instagram and revealed that the couple hoped to transfer by summer 2022.

Well, it clearly worked as—as mentioned—Heather and Tarek welcomed their first children together, and Tarek's third child overall, in January 2023. 

Discussing their adorable new addition, Heather shared that his entrance into the world wasn't without its drama. On Instagram, she wrote how, "I had scar tissue built up from a biopsy I had years ago, which affected my cervix softening & water breaking. 

"Once at the hospital I was given 1/2 a pill of Cytotec to soften cervix, balloon went in. 2 hours later I was dilated to a 4. Balloon fell out, then 3 hours later dialated to a 6, then a few minutes an 8 then 15 minutes later my water broke! It was time to push!! it all happened really fast. Tristan’s heart rate was dropping very low every time I’d push & was staying low. Which was terrifying. My doctor told me that we had to get him out right away. 

"Tarek yelled I see his head, push push push. Our baby boy came out healthy and beautiful, I was in a state of shock it was a surreal experience. I was emotional and drained & so in love already...

"We have been in our own private bubble but today we are so happy to share Tristan and some of our our birth story with the world 🤍"

Who is Heather’s ex, Nick Ebert?

Heather Rae Young’s dating history appeared in season two of Selling Sunset as she broke up with hockey player Nick Ebert, who had been scouted to play in Sweden, which meant that Heather had to fly back and forth to maintain the relationship. 

They had been in a long-distance relationship since season one and were together for three years. When she met Tarek on  July 4, 2019, she was still dating Nick but they broke up shortly after, allowing Heather to get with Tarek. 

On Inside Vue, Nick Ebert revealed that he met Heather through his sister Jamie while he was at training camp for the Los Angeles Kings. He confirmed that the couple had broken up due to the long distance and their age difference, as Nick is six years younger than Heather.

Who is Tarek’s ex, Christina Haack?

Tarek’s dating history is pretty limited to his ex-wife Christina Haack. The two reality stars met while working at a real estate office before getting married in May 2009. The couple later called time on their marriage in 2016.

The duo worked together on their hit show HGTV series Flip or Flop and share a daughter Taylor, who was born in 2010, and a son Brayden, who was born in 2015.

The couple’s relationship really broke down around May 2016 when the Orange County Sheriff’s Department was called to their home because of a "possibly suicidal male with a gun." Authorities did reveal that Tarek had no intention of hurting himself, but the couple called it quits by the end of the year and issued a statement to Us Weekly in December 2016, saying:  “Like many couples, we have had challenges in our marriage. We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago and the police were called to our house in an abundance of caution. There was no violence and no charges were filed. We chose to get counselling to sort out our relationship. Together, we have decided to separate while we reevaluate the future of our marriage.”

Despite their divorce being finalized in 2018, the couple continued to work together on Flip or Flop but announced in March 2022 that the show would end for good with the season 10 finale.

Do Tarek and Heather have matching tattoos?

On April 11, 2022, Heather posted a picture on Instagram of her and Tarek’s arms. They inked "10.23.2021," their wedding date, to their forearms, as well as Heather adding Tarek’s initials to her wrist and Tarek adding her initials to his.

Seems like love is still very much in the air for these two!