Hallmark Alum Shares How Tragedy Brought an Unexpected ‘Gift’ to Her Family

A former Hallmark star recently opened up about how she told her children about a devastating family loss. “Never Too Late to Celebrate” star Alexa PenaVega and her husband, fellow “Never Too Late to Celebrate” co-star Carlos PenaVega, lost their fourth child to stillbirth in April 2024. Telling their other three kids about the loss was “hard,” she acknowledged.

Alexa PenaVega Says Her Family is Forever Changed

On July 17, Alexa PenaVegas talked to People about the experience while she attended the California Lifetime Celebrates Summer event. She and her husband have three children, Ocean, 8, Kingston, 5, and daughter Rio, 3. They named their fourth child, a daughter, Indy, after her stillbirth.

PenaVega has been open about how difficult the experience has been. At the same time, she has explained, the loss has made the family stronger.

In talking to People, she shared, “It was really hard for our family to walk through that season, but it was also a gift because we all live in a very different way than we were.”

PenaVega believed that “being very honest and open with them that this [loss] sucked” was important.

Alexa PenaVega Says She’s Open to Having More Children

“The hardest part, honestly, was coming home from the hospital, and Ocean was at the front door waiting for me, not having any idea of what happened,” PenaVega recalled.

She remembered Ocean noticing the change in her belly size, and he asked where the baby was. PenaVega explained, “We didn’t tell him I was [leaving to have] a baby or anything.”

Ocean’s questioning was “the hardest because I was still grappling with what happened,” PenaVega added.

Before facing Ocean’s question upon arriving home, the couple thought they would have a little bit of time after getting to their house before having to tell their children what happened.

Their oldest child “was so looking forward to another baby,” and PenaVega admitted, “Even thinking about it now, my heart hurts thinking of [Ocean].”

She is still allowing her body to heal, and PenaVega shared she still has “some questions to get my body in order.” Once that is accomplished, however, she revealed she would “love to have more babies. I just love kids.”

In April, on the first anniversary of Indy’s birth, PenaVega shared a powerful photo on her Instagram page. “Happy heavenly birthday Indy girl. Our little world changer,” she wrote in the caption.

The photo showed Ocean, Kingston, and Rio standing together and looking down at a photo they held of Indy. Supporters of the PenaVegas flooded the comment section with notes of love and birthday wishes.