Alexa PenaVega, a former Spy Kids star, moved to Maui, Hawaii, with her husband, former Big Time Rush actor Carlos PenaVega, and their three children five years ago. Now, the actress has revealed that she made the decision to leave Hollywood for the Aloha state so that she could devote herself to “living for Jesus.”
After having their first child together in 2017, Alexa, 33, and Carlos, 32, both Christians who spent years working in the industry, made the decision to move their family from California to Hawaii in order to “be part of a community that shared their religion.”
When talking about their forthcoming biography, What if Love is the Point? Alexa recently discussed their choice to move on the show Living for Jesus in a Self-Consuming Business with Fox, saying she had started to feel “stuck in the entertainment world.”
She described Los Angeles as being “so jaded” and said “God dragged her out” of there to “learn how to be a wonderful parent and wife.”
Additionally, Alexa revealed that Carlos was’really dealing’ with’rejection’ before to their move because he had attended multiple auditions but had been unsuccessful in landing the parts, adding that it ‘was just becoming too much for him.
She said that Carlos was having a lot of trouble with the business. It would come down to him and one other guy in every audition, and the other guy would always win.
He was simply finding the rejection too much to bear. This continued for an entire year. I had been expecting at the moment.
We had always discussed retiring to Hawaii and living there later in life. However, we were also aware that we didn’t want to bring up our children in Los Angeles.
Alexa explained that she was unsure of what to do and looked to her faith for guidance, feeling as though God was telling her, “You guys need to get out of here.” For the sake of Carlos, it’s time.
The former child actress acknowledged that she ‘wasn’t excited’ about moving because she ‘liked her career and LA,’ and she felt compelled to do it for her husband alone.
When she was “praying in her car” one day, she suddenly realized that she needed a change just as much as he did.
“It stopped me in my tracks,” she said, “since all that time I had assumed we were just traveling for Carlos.” But I needed to reset my heart.
I needed to stand back since I was the one who was entrapped in the entertainment industry. My vocation became who I was.
God rescued me from it so I could discover how to be a wonderful wife and mom. God was a big part of how we created that family foundation. I was at peace once I reached that realization.
Alexa appeared in numerous TV shows as a child, including ER, Ghost Whisperer, and the Bernie Mac Show. But she didn’t really into the public eye until she was chosen to play Carmen Cortez in the well-known kids’ film Spy Kids in 2001.
After then, Alexa kept acting and appeared in three more Spy Kids movies as well as other well-known movies like Sleepover, Odd Girl Out, Walkout, Remember the Daze, Machete Kills, and others.
She first met Carlos during a bible study group in California. Carlos is best recognized for his work on the Nickelodeon show, but he has also appeared in Summerland and Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide.
They got married in January 2014 after falling in love quickly. On December 7, 2016, Ocean, their first child, was born. On June 30, 2019, they welcomed a second son named Kingston, and on May 7, 2021, they welcomed a daughter named Rio.
Alexa claimed that after relocating to Hawaii, she has fallen in love with the “Maui culture,” which is centered on “family and community.”
It’s very great, she exclaimed. There are many young families in Hawaii that adore God and are advancing in their religion.
“Your children spend the entire day outside. We’re not playing video games or using our phones inside. We’re taking in the scenery and putting our bare feet in the sand and mud. Children can be kids.
Before her family moved to California, Alexa spent the first years of her life living on a ranch in Florida, and she recalled that those were “some of her greatest recollections.”
“The brief period of time we spent there had such a profound impression on me.” She said, “I always knew that’s what I wanted for kids.
The Maui culture emphasizes community and family. When we lived in Los Angeles, I believe that was something that was lost.
I’ll argue that Los Angeles is a city with lots of opportunities. But a familial culture isn’t always present. You travel there for employment and succeed.
For us, leaving that was a priority since we were eager to join a group of people who shared the same religious beliefs. And in Hawaii, we discovered that. I don’t know, I think LA is so cynical. Hawaii, meanwhile, is a place where people merely exist.
The mother of three acknowledged that they initially experienced some “cultural shock,” but she said that they worked hard to “educate themselves” and show “respect to the community that they were living into.”
Alexa revealed throughout the book that she battled an eating condition when she was a teenager, which she said “wrecked her for years.” But she admitted to Fox that it was God who ultimately “brought her out of it.”
She recalled waking up one morning and instantly realizing it was time to seek assistance. And as soon as I began discussing it with others, I felt as though the barriers stifling my progress were starting to fall. Even though it was difficult, I managed to get to the other side.