<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://bestlifeonline.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/04/madison-main.jpg?quality=82&strip=1&resize=640%2C360" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“Madison De La Garza at the “Desperate Housewives” final season kick-off party in 2011 - 1”>
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Starting in Season 5, six-year-old Madison De La Garza began playing Juanita Solis, the daughter of Eva Longoria’s character Gabrielle on Desperate Housewives . Now, the former child actor is 21 years old, and she has opened up about the body shaming she endured when the show was on the air and how it negatively impacted her health.
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“The reactions that I got to my character on Desperate Housewives , I mean, it was just shocking,” she explained. “A lot of people came at it in a way that they were quote-unquote ‘concerned for my health.’ I personally believe that that’s just not true. That it was a cover-up so that they could just judge a six-year-old.”
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Explaining the worst of what she read, De La Garza continued, “They said things like they wanted me to die because of what I looked like. It was just horrible, like, ‘ugly fat cow’ and ‘I hope you get cancer and die because you’re so fat.’ Just horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible things, and this was when I was six, seven, eight years old.”
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The Bad Teacher actor remembered trying to starve herself starting when she was seven years old. She has been in and out of recovery over the years.
“Right now, I would like to say I’m about two years into recovery and things are going really, really well, which is great to be able to say that,” De La Garza said. “But I don’t think it’s something that will ever be completely gone or it will ever completely be fixed in that I think [it] is the same as having an addiction.”
She has also dealt with substance issues, in addition to her eating disorder. De La Garza is now sober, which she also discusses in the interview.
<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://bestlifeonline.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/04/madison-eva.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=500" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“Daniella Baltodano, Eva Longoria, Madison De La Garza at a “Desperate Housewives” party. in 2011 - 5”>
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“I think if they did, they never came out and said anything to me other than going out of their way to tell me that I was beautiful,” De La Garza answered. She added that the wardrobe department made a point to make sure she felt comfortable and confident in her clothes.
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In a recent interview with E! News, De La Garza said that she is now working behind the camera and making a point to be inclusive in her casting and tell the stories she wants to tell. She recently directed the short film Delaying Angels.
“As a plus-sized Latina woman—those identities together and separate—there wasn’t a place for us as the leading role,” she said. “I was always going out as the best friend or the comedic relief, or even the token minority in roles. And I saw there were a lot of auditions that called for ‘all ethnicities welcome.’ To me, that just said, ‘We don’t care what kind of minority you are, as long as you’re a minority and we can check that box off in our casting process.’”
But while De La Garza isn’t acting at the moment—and had a tough experience with Desperate Housewives the first time—she said she would happily play Juanita again. “I always say, if I was asked to be in hair and makeup at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning for a reboot, I would be there absolutely 100 percent,” she said. “I think it would be iconic.”
