Eva Longoria is loving being a new mom
An adorable baby, a loving husband and a kickass job – Eva Longoria has it all going for her right now COMPILED BY NICI DE WET
BACK in her Desperate Housewives days she was gorgeous Gabby, the one who got it on with the gardener and had a rowdy relationship with husband Carlos and the fun one among the friends. She was syrup to the formula that made the show one of the most successful comedy-dramas of the early 2000s and turned the four stars into household names.
Then it ended and the fab four all went their separate ways, with varying success. But it’s safe to say Eva Longoria is living her best life: she has a partner who adores her, a just-look-at-that-face baby and a fulfilling and ever-flourishing career.
The 43-year-old star was back at work just two months after giving birth to little Santiago, looking like a regular new mom in a tank top and leggings, hair scrunched up in a ponytail and face free of make-up.
Because who has time to beautify Hollywoodstyle when you’re a brandnew mom who’s up half the night breastfeeding a tiny tot?
Eva was snapped holding her baby boy in the director’s chair on the Los Angeles set of Grand Hotel, the new show about the last family-owned hotel in multicultural Miami Beach that she’s both directing and producing.
She marked her first day back on the job by Instagramming a photo of herself in a production office with her son sitting in a baby chair on her desk.
“First day back to work and look who’s my assistant director!” she quipped. “Has a desk and everything!” FINDING LOVE Much of Eva’s happiness these days stems from José “Pepe” Bastón (50), the Mexican businessman who’s her thirdtime-lucky husband.
She calls him Mr Fancy Pants because of his soft spot for fashion, which she says he loves way more than she does.
Before she met him she’d given up on finding Mr Right. But Pepe, who’s president of Televisa, Latin America’s largest media company, changed everything. “He makes it all worth it,” she says. She’s certainly endured her fair share of heartbreak. Her first marriage to General Hospital actor Tyler Christopher (45) ended in 2004 after just two years.
Three years later she wed basketball player Tony Parker (36) but that ended in disaster after she discovered he was
having an affair with the wife of one of his teammates.
She went on to date Penélope Cruz’s singer brother, Eduardo (33), then entrepreneur Ernesto Arguello (39) before being introduced to Pepe by a mutual friend in 2013.
Nothing happened at first. “I was getting out of a bad relationship and he was getting out of a relationship so there wasn’t a connection,” Eva told American magazine People.
But six months later they met again and there was immediate chemistry. “He was the most handsome man I’d ever seen. He was so charismatic, charming, sweet and funny. I thought, ‘Who’s this guy?!’ ”
They dated for two years before becoming engaged in December 2015 and wed the following year in a star-studded ceremony in Mexico.
Eva says her husband is super-private and hates it when she talks about him. “But I want to yell from the highest mountaintop about everything that goes on with us,” she told People.
“He’s probably one of the first men I’ve dated who’s been older and established and basically a grown-up. It’s so nice to be arm-in-arm with someone who’s your equal.”
Pepe has three children from his marriage to Mexican actress Natalia Esperón (43) and is an amazing dad to Natalia (23) and twins Mariana and Jose (14), Eva says.
“He has time now to enjoy a newborn. It’s really beautiful to see their bond, it’s so special.” MOTHERHOOD Kids weren’t really on her agenda until she met Pepe, Eva’s friends say. “Becoming a stepmom made her more open to the idea. She loves his kids,” an insider says.
“[His children] are such a gift in my life,” Eva said in 2015. “I don’t feel like we’re lacking because we don’t have a baby. We’re fulfilled. If there’s anything else to come, it would be the icing on the cake.”
And that cake has been well and truly iced. She’s taking to motherhood like a duck to water, she says, probably because Santiago is a dream.
“He’s so easy, so sweet. We’ve been really lucky,” she told Entertainment Tonight.
The best advice she’s received is from actress and friend Kerry Washington (41), mom to Isabelle (4) and Caleb (23 months). “She’s basically my doula,” Eva says. “She’s like, ‘Follow your instincts’.” WORK AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE These days Eva is more behind the camera than in front of it, developing films, TV shows and documentaries through her company, Unbelievable Productions. The Devious Maids and Telenovela producer says she always wanted to be on the “business side of entertainment”. “I never felt like I reached my full potential as an actor, but as a producer and director it’s so much more fulfilling.” Empowering Mexican-American women is a cause close to her heart. Eva, who’s also one of the founders of the Time’s Up movement against sexual harassment, has her own foundation, which provides education and business skills to Latinas.
“As a woman and as a Latina I represent a lot of communities and I want to tell all those communities that this isn’t my star – this is our star,” she said when she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April.
She still makes time to act though. Last month saw the release of her comedy Dog Days in the US, and fans can catch her in the upcoming basketball flick AllStars Weekend, directed by and starring Jamie Foxx. She’s also lending her voice to the film adaptation of the animated series Dora the Explorer as Dora’s mom.
Perhaps Felicity Huffman said it best when she recently paid tribute to her Desperate Housewives co-star. “She’s kind to everyone and she’s hopeful for the world. She provides the light for so many of us – she actually is the light.”