Celebrity
Alexa PenaVega shares photo of baby daughter Indy one year after stillbirth
This article deals with infant loss.
US actress Alexa PenaVega, who is best known for her role in the Spy Kids franchise, has reflected on the devastating stillbirth of her daughter, one year on from the tragedy.
She took to Instagram to talk about “the most painful moment I have ever experienced” and reveal the “peace” she had experienced since the tragedy.
PenaVega, who is married to actor and singer Carlos PenaVega, with whom she shares three older children, announced their daughter Indy had been stillborn a year ago in a post on Instagram.
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Now, a year on, PenaVega released a photo of her cradling her daughter in her arms along with an emotional message.
“I remember it feeling so hard to breathe. Such a deep aching pain… How was this real? It didn’t feel real. Every emotion flooded in at once,” PenaVega wrote.
“And yet, despite devastating loss, we felt so held… so covered… a supernatural peace.
“It was all out of our control. We had to give it all over to God. The burden was too heavy for us to carry so He took the weight off of us and draped us in His peace.”
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PenaVega said that over the past year her family had “watched life come out of her life”.
“We watched people heal because of Indy. We watched grief lifted because of Indy. We watched relationships be restored,” she said.
PenaVega said Indy’s life had “so much meaning and purpose”.
“And while we still mourn and wish we had her in our arms… we know she is waiting for us in a place that is beyond anything we can imagine.”
A day earlier, the couple took to Instagram to wish their daughter a “happy heavenly birthday” along with a heart-wrenching black and white photo of their three older children holding a picture of Indy.
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The posts come a year after the couple announced their fourth child had been stillborn.
“There are never the right words to say when it comes to loss,” the couple wrote in a joint post at the time, before explaining Indy was “born at rest” after a “beautiful and peaceful delivery”.
“This little girl has already changed our lives in so many ways. She was absolutely beautiful. And looked just like daddy. Dark hair and all,” they wrote.
“It has been a painful journey. But in the pain we have found peace. God continues to comfort and hold us in his arms,” the continued, before thanking the community for its prayers.
The couple met at a Bible study in 2012, shortly after PenaVega’s first marriage ended. They started dating soon afterwards and married in 2014.
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They combined their two surnames into one new name, PenaVega, which they have both used professionally since then.
They are parents to three older children, sons Ocean and Kingston, who were born in 2016 and 2019, and daughter, Rio, who arrived in 2021.
PenaVega was a child actress who got her first break playing a young Jo Harding (Helen Hunt’s character) in Twister before finding fame at 13 in the 2001 film Spy Kids.
She played Carmen Cortez in a further three of the franchise’s films during a successful career.
Among her most recent roles was opposite her husband in two Hallmark TV movies.
Carlos was best known as a member of the boy band Big Time Rush and star of the Nickelodeon series of the same name.
The Red Nose Grief and Loss Support Line is available 24/7 for anyone affected by the loss of a pregnancy, stillbirth or death of a baby or child on 1300 308 307.
