Eva Longoria has announced that she will never allow her eight-year-old son Santiago to see her in her star series Desperate Housewives.
Longoria, 51, appeared on the show from 2004 to 2012 as Gabrielle Solis, one of the scandalous residents of the fictional Wisteria Lane, amid a cast that included Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Nicollette Sheridan and Felicity Huffman.
The show’s very first season features Gabrielle in the throes of an extramarital affair with her 16-year-old gardener John Rowland, played by Jesse Metcalfe.
After decades in Los Angeles, Longoria and her producer husband Jose Baston now split their time between Mexico and Spain with their son.
While living abroad, Santiago can still feel the impact his mother left on Hollywood history and has recently become “obsessed” with Gabrielle’s memes that have started circulating on YouTube, his mother revealed to People.
“So lately I’ve been seeing a lot just because he found out. He asks, “Mom, when can I watch it?” And I’m like, “Never,” Longoria said.
Eva Longoria announced that she will never allow her eight-year-old son Santiago to watch her on Desperate Housewives; they are pictured in Abu Dhabi in December 2024
Longoria, 51, appeared on the show throughout its run from 2004 to 2012 as Gabrielle Solis, one of Wisteria Lane’s scandalous residents.
Despite taking a strong stance on Desperate Housewives, Longoria will be able to score some brownie points with Santiago by taking him to an upcoming Bruno Mars concert.
“As soon as he saw Bruno was on tour, he said, ‘No way, oh my God! We have to find a date to go,’ and immediately went online,” she said.
Longoria, who was previously married to soap star Tyler Christopher and basketball pro Tony Parker, celebrated her 10th wedding anniversary with Baston in May.
She shed light on their still-blooming romance in her new interview, pulling back the curtain on the latest extravagant date night she and Baston enjoyed together.
‘It was in France with my husband in the Loire Valley. We went to a castle. He always does something big, and it was very romantic,” she said. “But a typical date night for us is me cooking dinner, usually tacos, while he opens a bottle of wine.”
Following Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory, rumors circulated that Longoria had fled America due to the changing political winds, mainly due to her viral comments around that time calling the country a dystopia.
But she actually moved to Marbella – along with her Mexican businessman husband and their young son – before Trump won his second term.
In the interview that resulted in the speculation about the motives for her move, she sharply criticized both America in general and California in particular.
In the show’s very first season, Gabrielle has an extramarital affair with her gardener John Rowland, played by Jesse Metcalfe (left)
After decades in Los Angeles, Longoria and her producer husband Jose Baston now split their time between Mexico and Spain with their son
Longoria (third from left) is pictured in a 2004 publicity film for Desperate Housewives with her co-stars (from left) Nicollette Sheridan, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher
Longoria, who is originally from Texas, noted that she had lived “my entire adult life” in Los Angeles, but explained that the “atmosphere” was beginning to change before COVID-19.
“And then COVID happened, and it pushed it over the edge. Whether it’s the homelessness or the taxes, not that I’m complaining about California — it just feels like this chapter in my life is over now,” she shared Marie Claire.
The Desperate Housewives bombshell added: “I’m privileged. I can escape and go somewhere. Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They will be stuck in this dystopian country, and my fear and sadness are for them.”
In April 2024, a source had told the Daily Mail that the family would move to Spain to avoid Santiago being “sucked into the whole Hollywood cycle.”
Her grim assessment of the US sparked a whirlwind of speculation on social media that she had left for her homes abroad because of Trump.
However, she had bought her house in Marbella in 2023 and in April 2024 a source had already told the Daily Mail that she and José were leaving America.
“They want to raise their son in a place where he is surrounded by nature and beauty and not sucked into the whole Hollywood cycle,” the insider explains.
‘They are moving to their home in Spain full-time and are both so excited about it. She has had everything she wanted in Hollywood.”
Nevertheless, the perception that she had fled Trump’s second presidency persisted in the public eye, to the point where she had to publicly deny it.
Eva called The View host Ana Navarro, a friend of hers, while Ana was recording her podcast The View: Behind the Table.
Realizing the call would be via a podcast, Eva asked Ana, “Would you please let them know that I didn’t move from Spain because of Trump?” adding that she had “worked in Europe for almost three years.”
