"It is so nice to be arm-in-arm with someone who is your equal," says the woman who suffered through two heartbreaks before she met her now-husband and father of her son.
For many, Eva Longoria may be best recognized for her role in Desperate Housewives or as the director of the show, Jane the Virgin. However, while she may be known for her acting and directing, not many people are aware of her love story. And for her, it was love at second sight with her husband, José Bastón, lovingly called Pepe.
Longoria had been married twice before, both of which had ended in painful divorces. Reeling from the heartbreak, she actually almost let her second chance at love walk away. “I was getting out of a bad relationship, and he was getting out of a relationship, so there wasn’t a connection,” the former Desperate Housewives actress told People while explaining how she was introduced to José “Pepe” Bastón through a mutual friend in 2013. “So, we had a pleasant conversation but there was no real connection.”
Fate had other things in mind, especially when the same friend re-introduced the two six months later. “I had no memory of meeting him the first time, but we had immediate sparks,” Longoria, 44, said. But the second time she met him, “It was like the cliché angels singing and there was a glow around him and it was immediate chemistry.”
Without further delay, the two were on a four-hour date the very next day. “He was the most handsome man I’d ever seen,” Longoria said of Baston, the president of Latin media brand Televisa. “He was so charismatic, charming, sweet and funny. I thought, ‘Who is this guy?!’" And then for the next two-and-a-half years, the actress spent time getting to know the father-of-three.
Soon enough, he proposed to her on December 15, 2015, during a trip to Dubai, and she said yes. Where Baston likes to keep on the quieter side, more so about their relationship, Longoria likes to do the opposite, especially after her engagement to him. “He asked me and five months later we were married,” Eva said, reported The Sun. “It was so fast and amazing but also so right.”
“I want to yell from the highest mountaintop about everything that goes on with us because I’m so happy and excited to be with a person as kind as Pepe is,” she said, according to People. “He is probably one of the first men I’ve dated that has been older and established and, basically, a grown-up. It is so nice to be arm-in-arm with someone who is your equal."
With two failed marriages behind, it comes as no surprise that the actress had lost her need for the institution. “I never wanted to get married again and neither did Pepe,” she said to The Sun. “We were totally happy and didn’t want that to change if we got married. I was just like: ‘Meh.’ I was married twice and it wasn’t a goal. Before, it was always the fairy-tale aspiration: ‘I’m going to get married and have kids,’ blah, blah, blah. Then I realized I didn’t need it because of where I was in my life.”
Married in 2016, Longoria couldn't be happier. “[When we got married] we became inseparable,” the stepmother-of-three said. “Pepe is so kind. That’s rare to find.” Before they knew it, they were about to bring a new life into their family of five, including Baston's three kids from his previous marriage. Before their son was born though, Longoria had been awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Despite being private, her husband stepped out to support her.
"The last 20 years of my career has given me so much. It's given me friends, it's given me opportunities, awards, and honors but then life gave me Pepe and his beautiful children," she said during the ceremony. "It's with Pepe that I realized I can make all of my dreams come true, including my son who's on the way, and I'm happy he's here with us in this moment. So thank you amor for completing all of my dreams."
Named Santiago Enrique, he was born in June 2018, according to Oprah Mag. Talking to Parade about Baston being a father, Longoria said, "Thank God I have an amazing husband, who has raised a son and really is the perfect example of what a man should be in this world today," she said. "He's super supportive, super loving and encouraging. My son's going to have an amazing role model."
Respect and support. It's something that keeps the couple going, according to The Daily Mail.
"When I was younger it was so much about what I needed to accomplish, and I've accomplished so much already that I can really sit back now and enjoy the success and continue to dream bigger with a partner," she said to the news outlet. And it seems like she can continue to do so with her loving husband for many years to come as they raise their happy family.
References:
https://people.com/tv/eva-longoria-engaged-her-love-story-with-jose-pepe-baston/
