Madison de la Garza played the defiant, often hilarious Juanita Solis on Desperate Housewives
for four years.
But since then, she's gone on to do plenty more, including more acting, voiceover work,
speaking out against bullying, taking up aerial gymnastics, and becoming a budding YouTube
star.
Here's a look at what Eva Longoria's precocious TV daughter has been up to since she left
Wisteria Lane.
Good times
As Desperate Housewives was coming to an end in 2012, De La Garza recounted in an interview
with My San Antonio what a great experience the show was, especially her relationships
with her on-screen mom and dad, Eva Longoria and Ricardo Chavira.
Being a celebrity in her own right, though, took some getting used to.
"People would walk up to me and ask, 'Are you that girl in Desperate Housewives?'
It freaked me out at first.
Now I know how lucky I am to have people recognize me like that.
It makes me feel warm and fuzzy."
The bonds of sisterhood
Though there's a nine-year age gap between Madison De La Garza and her half-sister Demi
Lovato, the two couldn't be closer.
Over the years, De La Garza and Lovato have shared the stage, the screen, and the fight
against online bullies.
In a 2015 interview with Seventeen, De La Garza talked about a time when Lovato came
to her defense.
"I got a ton of negative comments after I posted a Vine on Twitter where I was cooking
with Demi.
People made fun of me, saying I had a hunchback.
Demi freaked and direct-messaged people to yell at them, and she tweeted at her followers
to stand up for me."
The support goes both ways.
Lovato told Access Hollywood that it was during an intervention that her mom told her, "You
know, we're going to move back to Texas and you're not going to be able to be around you're
little sister."
Just the idea of not being around De La Garza was enough to motivate Lovato to overcome
her drug and alcohol addictions.
She was cyber-bullied
Unfortunately, the Vine incident wasn't the only time De La Garza was a victim of online
bullies.
In an essay for Latina, she revealed that as young as age six, she was, quote, "being
called 'fat,' 'ugly,' and 'slut' on Twitter."
Naturally, De La Garza was deeply affected by it.
She wrote, "Their opinions turned into my insecurity—and suddenly I was aware of every
meal, every outfit, every post on social media.
However, every day it gets easier to accept myself for me instead of the labels they had
put on me."
"Reading the mean comments online is not gonna hurt me forever.
That's one thing I've learned."
Flying high
What exactly is aerial gymnastics?
Good question.
Basically, it's that Cirque du Soleil stuff where people flip around on big drapes hanging
from the ceiling, all while somehow not barfing everywhere.
It's pretty impressive, and De La Garza definitely loves it.
"I just have a passion for it.
It's so fun, and it's a great workout.
And number two, it's awesome."
Strong social media game
With over half a million followers on both her Twitter and Instagram pages, De La Garza
has cultivated her stardom into a loyal fanbase.
Like any teen, her pages are filled with selfies and group photos with friends, but De La Garza
also uses her platform to promote causes she supports, like The National Alliance on Mental
Illness and the Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Surprisingly, she doesn't seem to have an official Facebook page, so either kids are
too cool for that now, or she reads all of her grumpy older relatives' political gripes
elsewhere.
She has her own YouTube channel
After Desperate Housewives, De La Garza moved on to television roles on Bad Teacher and
Muertoons, a cartoon that takes place in a world where "every day is The Day of the Dead."
But she's also staked a claim in the emerging world of new media.
She relaunched her YouTube channel where she declares aspirations in many fields including
acting, directing, producing, and writing, as well as doing special effects makeup.
"Since I want them to look super deep, I'm going to go in with a black color to create
dimension."
"Now that looks super deep."
And she even wrote a short film called The Imbalancing Act, which is pretty impressive
for anyone, much less a teenager.
With both her TV family and her real family backing her, there's no telling just what
she'll end up achieving.
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