Alexa PenaVega shared a story about how her daughter Rio reminded her that we never truly lose our loved ones.
“After we lost our daughter Indy life didn’t end for our family,” she captioned an Instagram video. “If anything it was the opposite.”
In the video, PenaVega read from her latest book, Joy Isn’t Canceled, which she wrote with husband Carlos PenaVega about grieving their daughter Indy, who was stillborn.
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“Even today, as I was writing this and was tearing up remembering all we went through in these seasons, my sweet little Rio came up to me and asked, ‘Why are you crying, Mommy?’” the SPY KIDS actress read aloud. “As my precious, tiny caretaker wiped the tears from my eyes, I told her I was thinking of Indy, and I was sad that she wasn’t here. Her response was the best: ‘But she is here. She’s right here.’ And she pointed to my heart. ‘And you get to hold her always, Mama.’ Kids are just so pure and perfect.”
In a joint statement about the book, the PenaVegas shared, “We never could have imagined how much Indy’s life would change ours and touch so many others. She’s been such a gift to us in every way. She’s brought us closer as a couple, closer as a family, closer to our community — and closer to God, who’s shown us a kind of peace and purpose we didn’t know was possible.”
In a 2025 interview with PEOPLE, PenaVega shared how difficult it was to tell the couple’s children she had lost their sister.
“It’s hard,” she explained. “I think just being very honest and open with them that this sucked. It’s hard. The hardest part, honestly, was coming home from the hospital, and [son] Ocean was at the front door waiting for me, not having any idea of what happened.”
PenaVega continued, “He sees my belly and he’s like, ‘You have the baby. Where’s the baby? Your belly’s small.’ Because we didn’t tell him I was [leaving to have] a baby or anything. And that was the hardest because I still was grappling with what happened.”
“But now, something that I actually think is very special that I even have is, I think of heaven every single day. So you live life differently,” she said. “Yes, it was heartbreaking and 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.”
The PenaVegas still struggle with grief but are holding onto the knowledge that Indy lives on in their hearts.
Read Next: Alexa PenaVega Chronicles Grief and God’s Presence in New Book
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