Madison De La Garza reflects on her time as a child star Desperate housewives and how viewer cyberbullying led to her “developing an eating disorder at a very young age.”
The actress – who was just 6 years old when she played Juanita Solis, the daughter of Eva Longoria’s Gabrielle “Gaby” Solis, on the ABC series – appeared in the most recent episode of Elizabeth Vargas’ Heart of the matter podcast to talk about her journey to sobriety. During the 45 minute episode, De La Garza talked about her personal drug use and experiences with addiction, as well as the decision to turn to her sister Demi Lovato after De La Garza sought treatment.
Towards the end of the discussion, the bad teacher actress touched her time starring Desperate housewives with Vargas, recalling how she experienced cyberbullying about her weight under the guise of concern for her health.
“The reactions I got to my character Desperate housewivesI mean it was just shocking. A lot of people came across it in a way that they were openly concerned about my health,” she said. “Personally, I believe that’s just not true. That it was a cover so they could just judge a 6-year-old.”
De La Garza further revealed that although her parents restricted her online activities, she regularly sneaks behind a computer and while visiting sites such as TMZteen gossip site OceanUp and YouTube, would spend “an insane amount of time reading these comments” that spoke of her in a “hideous” way.
“They said things like they wanted me to die because of how 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 terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible things and this was when I was 6, 7, 8 years old,” she recalled. “Reading comments like this definitely affected my mental health and ultimately played a role in my developing an eating disorder at a very young age.”
The Desperate housewives actress said her family had no idea that “I was seeing these things and reading these things” or that she had started “starving myself” in response – something she remembers when she was 7 years old.
When Vargas asked if the actress had any of the Desperate housewives creative team or if they knew about the online harassment, she noted that they should all be at least somewhat aware since they had written her weight and were watching the show as part of Longoria’s character’s storyline.
“There was an episode where I went to school wearing a lot of makeup because girls in my class said I wasn’t pretty enough to be her daughter,” De La Garza said. “So this was literally talked about in the script of the show. The whole joke of my character was that Eva was this skinny, beautiful model and her daughter turned out to be the complete opposite.
While the actress said “they never came out and said nothing to me,” those who worked on the show “went out of their way to tell me I was beautiful.” De La Garza shared how the show’s cast and crew regularly complimented her and that the wardrobe department made her feel comfortable in her clothes and skin, something she “appreciated.”
“I was able to keep my mouth shut and say, ‘Hey, I really don’t like how I feel in these clothes. I feel very uncomfortable,'” she recalls. bringing my own jeans because I kept telling them how these jeans were [fit] — this fabric, this texture, it really bothers me. I can’t focus on my lines and they let me bring my own clothes to wear so I would feel more comfortable.
The Desperate housewives star also said that she and Longoria “never talked about it” but that the older actress would compliment her on a regular basis. “We never talked about it explicitly, but she definitely did her best to make me feel beautiful and special,” De La Garza said. “She made me feel like family and if I ever wanted to go to her with these things, I absolutely could have. I was just so embarrassed that these comments were even written, I didn’t even want to talk about them.
De La Garza added that her eating disorder changed over time. She recalled entering recovery for a few years before the disordered eating pattern returned, with the actress starving herself before “struggling with binge eating disorder for months.”
“At this point I would say I’m about two years into recovery and I’m doing very, very well,” she told Vargas. “Which is great to be able to say that, but I don’t think it’s something that will ever be completely gone or will ever be completely resolved, I think. [this] is the same as having an addiction.”
Still, she speaks out because she believes telling her story can help protect other children from the effects of online bullying. “I think it’s incredibly important for people to know how bad cyberbullying can be, and how the unthinkable really happens these days,” explains De La Garza. “I think it’s really important for people to be aware of that so they can look out for it and protect this next generation of kids.”
