Pregnant Alexa PenaVega and husband Carlos PenaVega are expecting baby No. 4, but their marriage hasn’t always been full of bliss.
“I’ve always told people, I’m like, ‘The truth is marriage is this beautiful, holy thing. It’s a sacred thing. And you go through bumps,’” Alexa, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, November 28, while promoting the pair’s partnership with The Salvation Army. “There was a time in our marriage where if we were not married, we would have broken up.”
The Spy Kids actress, who announced her fourth pregnancy earlier this month, explained: “But that’s the beauty of marriage. You fight through it, you fix it, you work on it. And I feel like we’re stronger than ever because of those bumps. Even though they were hard seasons, we pushed through, and we soared.”
Alexa and Carlos, 34, tied the knot in 2014 and after nearly 10 years of marriage they are still learning what makes the other tick. While they have different approaches to problems, Alexa said “prayer has been a huge thing” for them.
“Life gets tough. It’s really, really hard,” she told Us. “But taking that moment to just sit down and really kind of communicate. I know that sounds so cliche, but it’s true. It’s when we’re not communicating very well that we start to hit bumps in the road.”
Alexa, who shares sons Ocean, 6, and Kingston, 4, and daughter Rio, 2, with the Big Time Rush member, confessed that communication isn’t her strong suit.
“I will be the first to say, I really struggle with communicating. He’s amazing at it,” she said, shocking her husband with her admission. “Are we recording this? Is this being recorded right now? Can I have this clip?” he quipped in response.
All jokes aside, Alexa told Us Carlos is “very good at being clear with what he wants and expectations.” She continued: “I don’t know if this is just women or if it’s just me, but I have a harder time. I really fall into [the pattern of] people pleasing very easily. It’s a terrible thing. It’s not a good quality.”
One thing Alexa and Carlos can always agree on is giving back, which is part of the reason they teamed up with The Salvation Army. As residents of Lahaina, Hawaii, the twosome have been focused on helping the organization’s efforts to support victims of the August wildfires in Maui. (Officials estimate a death toll of 97 people after the brush fires and wind destroyed much of Lahaina this summer. The damages to property amount to more than $1 billion.)
“I always tell people, I’m like, ‘Listen, financially, if you can give, that’s awesome. But there’s so many ways to give,’” Carlos told Us on Tuesday, revealing that after the Maui disaster, he took his family to help in person. “We got to actually go shopping for the kids and then meet the kids in person. And give them the gifts. And I think for me and our kids especially, it was a real big wow moment. Like, ‘Oh, this is what it’s all about.’”
Alexa called The Salvation Army “part of our family,” noting that like many she and Carlos grew up seeing their iconic red kettlebells outside grocery stores. “The whole point of giving back isn’t to receive, it’s to give, but what it does to your heart, it just expands your heart,” she said. “And seeing the joy on people’s faces, there’s nothing like giving. There really isn’t.”
Carlos added that The Salvation Army also has the Angel Tree program at Walmart locations nationwide for the holidays. While shopping, people will see trees in the stores with tickets on them that have a child’s name and something on their wish list for Christmas.
“You can go and pick one out and go shopping for them. And these gifts actually go to the kids, children and youth,” he told Us. “We’ve had a great time over the years taking our kids in there.”
For more information on how you can give back and help your community, you can visit SalvationArmyUSA.org.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
