Alexa PenaVega was just eliminated from "Dancing With the Stars" on Monday night, but she made sure to leave a lasting impression on everyone.
While on the show, the "Spy Kids" star revealed a painful past during her first performance of the night -- an emotional dance to Ed Sheeran's "Make It Rain" - which was her six-year battle with an eating disorder.
E! News reports:
"During the package before her performance, Alexa told her partner Mark Ballas a story about working on a film when she was younger, where 'the producers kept telling me, 'You're too fat.'' That experience led Alexa to develop an eating disorder for the next six years. 'I struggled with bulimia for so long,' she said. 'And even though I got through it, I feel like a lot of my insecurities from my body are from that.'"
The candid and emotional moment was actually one of the reasons that pushed Alexa, and her husband, Carlos PenaVega, to go on "Dancing With the Stars."
Talking to Sibley Scoles after being eliminated, Alexa PenaVega revealed:
"It's so crazy because when Carlos and I joined the show, like one, it was a journey together. [...] But more than anything we just kept saying, if we could just be a light for people, shine a light on marriage, shine a light on life... I feel like there's so many things out there that are so negative. This is the one show where you can show something so positive and have fun and show a journey. If we could do that, that was our main goal, and I really felt like we did that, especially tonight."
Mark Ballas, who also choreographed the routine, said that the experience was "incredible." He explains:
"I think with issues like that, people usually don't like to address them. With issues like that, you have to be bold, you have to have courage and you have to put it out there... As long as we can help one person, that's all that matters. Tonight's dance was bigger than the show. It was about a bigger message... to help people and to inspire."
Alexa PenaVega net worth is $12.5 million.
