Tarek El Moussa isn’t backing down after facing criticism for gifting his 16-year-old daughter, Taylor, a $150,000 BMW X5. Despite the mixed reaction online, he insisted that she had earned the expensive present.
The HGTV star says his teen daughter earned the luxury car
While appearing on Nicole Lapin’s Money Rehab podcast on October 28, Tarek addressed the reactions to his daughter’s new car. The Flip or Flop starsaid, “She’s got a 4.2 GPA. She was MVP of her freshman soccer team. She’s an absolutely fantastic kid, and she didn’t just get it—she actually earned it. And if you ask me, she deserved it because she worked really, really hard and didn’t even ask for that car.”
Tarek also clarified that Taylor had not requested a luxury car. She also had no idea that he planned to buy her one. According to him, his daughter would have been just as happy with a used Honda. However, he wanted to make sure she had a safe car. “That thing is built like a tank,” he said. Tarek explained that safety was his biggest priority when choosing the car.
Former CNN and CNBC anchor Nicole Lapin also asked Tarek if he was concerned that the expensive gift might spoil his daughter. “Here’s the truth,” he replied. “She was flying in private jets when she was, like, 1 year old. So this kid has grown up around things. When I grew up, I didn’t have anything, right? So I’m obsessed with things because I never had things. She’s always had things.”
He added, “If she were going to be a spoiled brat, she probably wouldn’t have got the 4.2 GPA, she probably wouldn’t have been MVP of our soccer team, and she probably wouldn’t have done the extra coaching, right? For me, this is a reward for all the work she’s done.”
Back in August, Tarek, his wife Heather El Moussa, and his ex-wife Christina Haack, who is Taylor’s mother, teamed up to surprise the teenager with the luxury car. They shared a video of the special moment on Instagram.