Actress Eva Longoria has admitted that she and her family fled the “dystopian” United States, leaving California's homelessness and high taxes for a brighter life in Mexico and Spain.
“I’ve spent my entire adult life here.” Longoria told Marie Claire. “But before that, [the pandemic]had changed. The atmosphere was different. Then the new coronavirus broke out and pushed things over the edge. Whether it's homelessness or tax issues, I don't want to set foot in California. I just feel like this chapter of my life is over. ”
Although Los Angeles doesn't seem to be her speed anymore, the 49-year-old “Desperate Housewives” star also cited the recent presidential election as the reason she felt confident in her decision to leave.
“The shocking thing is not that he won,” she said of former President Donald Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. “It means that a convicted criminal who spews so much hate could be in the highest office.”
“If he keeps his word, it's going to be horrible,” she said, recalling how depressed she felt after Trump's 2016 victory.
Longoria, who spent the summer volunteering to rally voters for Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, expressed disillusionment with the U.S. electoral process.
“It was like, ‘Does my vote really matter?’ Am I really making a difference?” she said. “I was very untethered to the core of what I believed in because I truly believed that the best person would win. And then it happened and I was like, 'Oh, wait.' The best person doesn't win.”
Longoria, her husband Jose Bastón, and their son Santiago, 6, currently live between Mexico and Spain.
Although Longoria frequently travels to Europe and South America for work, she doesn't spend much time in Los Angeles.
The actress turned producer and director admitted she has the “privilege” of being able to leave the country.
“I can run away and go somewhere else,” she said. “Most Americans are not so lucky. They will be stuck in this dystopian country, and my anxiety and sadness is for them.”
