Photo: John Sciulli/Getty
Madison De La Garzais reflecting on how her young fame resulted in an earlyeating disorder.
“The reactions that I got to my character onDesperate Housewives, it was just shocking,” she said. “A lot of people came at it in a way that they were ‘concerned for my health.’ And I personally believe that that’s just not true, that that was a cover-up so that they could just judge a 6-year-old.”
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De La Garza, who isDemi Lovato’s youngerhalf-sister, made her debut on season 4 of the hit ABC series as Juanita Solis, the adopted daughter ofEva Longoria’s Gabrielle Solis and her husband Carlos (Ricardo Antonia Chavira).
“The whole joke of my character was that Eva was this thin, beautiful model and her daughter turned out to be quite the opposite. And so, I think she was very aware that this was going to affect me,” she said of Longoria, 48.
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However, “We never explicitly talked about it, but [Longoria] definitely went out of her way to make me feel like I was pretty and like I was special, and she made me feel like I was family,” explained De La Garza. “And if I ever did want to go to her with these things, I absolutely could have.”
If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, please contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or go toNationalEatingDisorders.org.
source: people.com