Eva Longoria covers the latest issue of Marie Claire, in what was supposed to be a standard promotional piece for Eva’s many projects. Quietly, Eva has become one of the biggest bosses in Hollywood and politics – investor, producer, director, actress, Democratic Party activist and donor, and people only recently learned that she gave the financing to make the first John Wick movie happen. She’s promoting Siete Foods (a billion-dollar food company she invested in, which was just sold), and CNN’s Searching for Spain, which she hosts. The interview is in two halves – one, pre-election, where she’s talking about aging and wellness and business. The second half is post-election, where Eva is talking about politics and the fact that America f–king sucks for “electing” Donald Trump again. Some highlights:
Turning 50: “I’m cold-plunging; I’ve got red lights on; I strength train with weights; I meditate; I’m journaling. I wake up with the sun; I’m doing the grounding; I have an Oura ring to track deep sleep; I’m taking magnesium and other supplements; I’m doing everything. Not because I don’t want to age but because I do want to age. For me, age is just a number, but I’m excited. I refuse to believe my greatest success is behind me.”
Why she was motivated to host CNN’s ‘Searching for Mexico’: “I feel like the strained relationship between us and Mexico needs to be repaired, and I think culture and food can easily celebrate the best things of a country. The people who were screaming, ‘Build that wall!’ are the same people that are going to Taco Tuesday. And I’m like, ‘No, no, no. You don’t get to margarita out and sh-t on the culture that gave you the taco and gave you the margarita. You have to go, ‘This came from there. There must be good things.’”
How she felt after the 2016 election. “I’ve never been depressed in my life,” she recalls. In addition to actual, bodily anguish, she felt serious doubt about convictions that had once felt undeniable. “It was like, ‘Does my vote really matter? Am I really making a difference?’ I was so untethered to the core of what I believe because I truly believed in my soul that the best person wins. And then that happened, and I was like, ‘Oh, wait. The best person doesn’t win.’”
How she feels after the 2024 election: “The shocking part is not that he won. It’s that a convicted criminal who spews so much hate could hold the highest office. I would like to think our fight continues,” she says. But she can’t pretend she knows what’s coming next. The country “is a scary place. If he keeps his promises, it’s going to be a scary place.”
She and her husband José Bastón split their time between Spain and Mexico. Work takes them from Europe to South America and back. The movie and television business is in flux, but the globalization of it at least suits her. Longoria doesn’t tend to shoot in Los Angeles, and she doesn’t miss it. “I had my whole adult life here. But even before [the pandemic], it was changing. The vibe was different. And then Covid happened, and it pushed it over the edge. Whether it’s the homelessness or the taxes, not that I want to sh-t on California—it just feels like this chapter in my life is done now. I’m privileged. I get to escape and go somewhere. Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country, and my anxiety and sadness is for them.”
She had told Democrats to pay attention to the Latino vote. “We’ve been screaming from the highest rooftop that the Latino vote is not something to take for granted. You have to earn it and win it every election cycle.” She is already strategizing how candidates in future elections might reverse the trend. “I want to know how we can communicate that government and politics affects your life, whether you like it or not. Either you participate in that or you let somebody else hold the power.”
The more postmortems I read about the election and the more I see about why people voted for Orangina again, the less I believe it was a messaging problem for the Democrats. I said that hours after Kamala Harris lost Pennsylvania – this is not a candidate problem or a party problem. This is an electorate problem. Unless voters choose to vote in their best interests and the best interests of the country, Dems can’t “message” their way out of it. Tens of millions of Americans knew exactly what was at stake, and they still chose the fascist. As for what she says about being able to escape to Spain or Mexico… lucky lady. The crybaby fascists are trying to make it sound like Eva is storming out of the country because Trump won, but she clearly says that she’s been living in Spain and Mexico for several years already, and that she moved out of California years ago. I also agree with her that this election felt different than 2016.
Cover courtesy of Marie Claire, additional pic courtesy of Avalon Red.
-
- RECORD DATE NOT STATED LOS ANGELES, CA -SEPTEMBER 21: Eva Longoria at the History Channel s History Talks on September 21, 2024 at the Academy Of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California. Copyright: xFayexSadoux,Image: 910493356, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO / Avalon
This is my country. I’m not moving. I’ll do what I’ve always done in adversity; go to work to fix what’s wrong.
💯!!
60 years of battles. I’m making other plans. See @MightyMolly below.
52% of white women voted for trump. I’ll be angry at us until i die.
[i certainly didn’t vote that way- but its not really about me]
White women voted for patriarchy and racism- and are basically in denial of reality.
Economically we will be worse off. Tariffs to make goods more expensive- deportations lead to higher costs and labor shortages.
We’ve sentenced ourselves and our daughters to die without proper health care (i guess we don’t think it will happen to people we love- so screw the rest of the women in this country).
And of course, in chasing the whiteness as superior vibe- the horror and tragic things that will happen to all immigrants, and black people and other minorities. a majority of white women chose this.
Cops will kill more unarmed black people without repercussions.
All for whiteness and patriarchy.
Miserable b**ches.
I’m sorry the rest of us will suffer- but i look forward to the magats suffering.
I never wanted to be a person like this- but- the hate of magats has infected me.
Enjoy the repeal of the ACA, the end of democracy and the collapse of the economy- idiots!!
Mexico is not in South America.
As a Democrat, I think that if representatives (elected and not) of the Latino community say there is a problem with messaging, then I should listen to them. Not “messaging” as in slogans and sound bites once every 4 years, but a continuous conversation about their needs as individuals and a community. I don’t know exactly what the improvements should be, but we’ll have meetings to find out.
The problem is that 1 party has accountability required of it and one doesn’t. Until there are equal standards for both parties, no amount of “changing the message” will ever work. It’s the same moving of goalposts that keeps marginalized people from getting ahead.
The truest thing I’ve seen is that Latino men couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a black woman, There’s no “messaging” out of that.
Sixty percent of Latinas voted for Kamala. Presumably, they do not feel disrespected by the Democratic party. It’s quite possible that Latino males feel “disrespected” when men are not the center of every message the party delivers. There’s no solution for this unless Democrats sign onto patriarchy forever which is not the message most Democrats want.
I get what you’re saying, but I can’t be focused on what the Republicans will do. I don’t want to be equal to them, I want to be better.
Is there really a “ Latino community” though? At least in my small circle, I have friends who identify as Cuban-American, Chicano, and Puerto Rican; and Brazilian, Dominican-American, Ecuadorian, Bolivian-American, Guatemalan-American, Paraguayan-American, and Uraguayan-American. Some are white. Some are Brown. Some identity as Black — like me. While I’m sure that language is a bond, and culture can be a bond, none of them speak about themselves and their identities as “Latino” or “Hispanic” — except when they’re in mostly white spaces.
Maybe one problem with the messaging — and with the statistics— is that it’s trying to treat people as a unified demographic group with common interests, when that’s not really what’s there. Maybe gender, machismo, toxic masculinity, religiosity, generation, or other socio-economic factors are more critical factors for individuals and communities that aren’t being adequately addressed — or even addressed at all.
Is there really a “ Latino community” though?
If your question is genuine then you can ask this of any community. Black, white, gay, trans, etc.
When you study election results and see who voted for whom, you can group voters into certain categories and see where patterns begin to emerge. Those categories are, in the broadest sense, generally defined by gender, age and race, by which Latinos are identified.
That’s a very good point. I think that unless you’re a billionaire and/or a megalomaniac, most everyone wants the same things out of life – economic security, personal safety, to build a future (however that’s envisioned), and to know their voices can be heard. It’s just that voices can be heard louder when they join together.
Agreed, Eva…the vibes have been off for a while. I don’t think the Democrats’ messaging is off…I think it resonates with people who are educated and not sociopaths…Unfortunately, the populace is much less educated than it has been in a decade, and we have a propaganda and mental health crisis in the US that we are not addressing. And thanks to Brain Worm, if confirmed, we won’t be addressing it anytime soon.
Does anyone know if eva’s well publicized effort to start a media group aimed toward Latinos to combat disinformation after the 2016 election ever went anywhere? She made some noise about it at one time.
I never heard of this. But something like this is needed. The disinformation has gotten so much worse since 2016. And not just for Latinos.
Mexico’s president is a woman and a climate scientist, while we just reverted to the dark ages. If anyone is not familiar with Claudia Sheinbaum, please google her.
She’s inspiring!
A friend is a film extra/stand in body double who worked on one of Eva Longoria’s film sets. She said Ms Longoria was a pleasure on set. Polite, prepared and treated everyone on the set well. I love hearing gossip but it’s also nice to hear about positive, inspiring role models as well.
“This is an electorate problem.” No one is allowed to say this, but, really, it’s the truth. Much easier to just blame the candidates and the campaigns than admit we have such a dumbed down electorate which can’t be bothered to learn basic facts about candidates. Or, if they learn these facts, refuse to believe them because it doesn’t fit their desired narrative. There is no magical candidate who can overcome these problems inherent to a willfully ignorant electorate. Kamala was the closest to “magical” I have ever seen any candidate get. And we see how that went.
Y’all, I’m Mexican-American, and I literally have people in my family whose parents and even older siblings were born in Mexico and immigrated here, and they are diehard Trump fans.
It breaks my brain.
All my husband and I can figure is that it comes from this desire to assimilate and be accepted by White people around them. (Most of them live in predominantly White areas.)
Which, good luck with that. They’ll never get the acceptance they’re chasing — ever. I learned that when I was still in HS, and not bc I was particularly chasing it but just in enough situations where I realized that with certain people, I’ll always be “othered” — even with my White-sounding last name, my fairly light skin, my perfect English, and my perfect grades.
This is a story as old as humanity, unfortunately, the desire to accepted by the ruling demographic often leads to selling out one’s own heritage/gender/demographic origins. That’s a huge simplification of course, but the pattern is real.
I didn’t know much about Eva before S4 OMITB and I am a new fan.
IDK how well Desperate Housewives has held up, but it was a fun, quirky show in its time. Eva was great in that. Very funny. Weirdly, the “real housewives of OC” launched as a reaction to the DH craze, but the dumb reality shows are almost the opposite of the series, which very much was about women supporting each other.
I can understand , and we also loved living in Europe earlier this year for 6 mths (my husband had a short term assignment and I was able to work remotely from there ) , and our young kids were able to spend a semester there too.
But just as everywhere else they have issues with the politicians too, look what happened with the floods in Valencia. Also their income/home prices ratio is even a larger gap compared to the US.
She’s lucky she can afford it but for Average citizens(in both countries), no where really is perfect. Im glad though at least we live in a blue state.
sadly trump in office will leave a scar on America that may take a century to fix. Look at Reagan and how even today the US is affected by his policies etc. With trump’s stupidity and his cult, it might take a century sadly.
“I’m privileged. I get to escape and go somewhere. Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country, and my anxiety and sadness is for them.”
I appreciate Eva for acknowledging this. I’ve seen multiple people suggesting people get their passports and make plans to leave. If that’s an option, I don’t blame those who do it. However, for most Americans, that’s just not a realistic plan. There are only so many people in occupations that other nations are seeking or with the resources to move with no job waiting. Most of the 74 million Americans who voted against 45 are stuck here with 76 million who support him.
Someone needs to fix this:
“ She and her husband José Bastón split their time between Spain and Mexico. Work takes them from Europe to South America and back. ”
Mexico is in North America, not South America.