De la Garza, who joined the show as Gabriel and Carlos’ daughter Juanita after a time jump between seasons four and five, remained with the show until the series finale. Since Desperate Housewives went off the air, Demi Lovato’s half-sister has grown up (she turned 18 in December 2019) and appeared in films such as Caged No More and Norm Alone, as well as shows like Good Luck Charlie and Bad Teacher.
De La Garza has spoken candidly about the hate she received while appearing on Desperate Housewives, which she said led her to develop an eating disorder.
“I would spend hours reading comments,” she recalled on a 2023 episode of the podcast “Heart of the Matter.” “They said things like they wanted me to die because of the way I looked. They were like, ‘You’re an ugly, fat cow. And I hope you get cancer and die because you’re so fat.'” And it’s all horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible things. And this is when I was 6, 7, 8 years old. ”
“My first memory of trying to starve was when I was 7 years old,” she continued. “A lot of it came from reading those comments. My family didn’t know this was happening. My mom didn’t know I was watching these things, I was reading these things, because I was so sneaky about it.”
In September 2024, she announced that she was expecting a baby with Ryan Mitchell. Sadly, the actress announced the following October that the child, a daughter named Xiomara, died later that month after being delivered by emergency caesarean section.
