After a challenging 2014, in which she dealt with a painful divorce, actress Eva LaRue took stock of her life and spiritual being. The result: a new lease on life and a rocking 48-year-old body her younger self wished for.
Following the end of "CSI: Miami" – she starred on the series from 2005 until its 2012 cancelation – LaRue decided to take some time off and just be a mom to 13-year-old daughter Kaya. After taking stock both personally and professionally, Eva is back with a burgeoning jewelry line and a TV series she created that's now in development.
"Last year was the year of retooling Eva," she says. "As crappy as it felt while in it, it really has wound up to be an incredible blessing: Nobody wants to do sit-ups, but we all want abs!"
You are OK with saying the number 48?
Yeah! It's out there. It should be like the old days when you can lie about your age (laughs), but I probably wouldn't do that anyway.
But looking like you do, you should definitely own and cherish it.
You know I feel pretty good; in some ways I feel healthier now than I did when I was younger. I think mainly because I "have" to work out and stay in shape. I have to be on it more now than when I was younger, so I think I do feel stronger now than I did in my 30s.
When 2015 rolled around, did you consciously say, "I am literally going to work my butt off"?
Yeah, I'm literally going to work my ass, my spirit, my subconscious and conscious and everything off. Mainly because what was happening wasn't happening to me, it was happening for me. That was the biggest paradigm change for me. This was happening for me! This is a gift, so make it the gift that it is. Just going through the divorce...there came a turning point, and I really wanted to change things from that point on.
Do feel more empowered?
Oh yes. Being empowered is a tricky thing. It's something you never really perfect, but I think as you are retooling you can use your baggage and stories as something that fuels you. Sometimes embitterment can fuel. I think those things can become an excuse as we get older, and we all know someone who, as we get older, just gets increasingly bitter. It's an easy pool to pull from; it's an easy go-to, until you really clean and clear it out and really say, "I want to go back to this but with wisdom and I know different." That is a real empowerment. You can be empowered by your embitterment and anger and resentment over things, but the bottom line is we are always the good guy in our story; often that's simply not the truth. It's all about how you interpret the story. I think finding that balance is what is really empowering - getting back to your core self and really being in touch with your spirit again, sort of being rocketed by your spirit rather than your story.
Did you get help from a trainer or seek any other help?
I got a lot of different kinds of help. I went on my own spiritual journey. When you're in the middle of it all, it really is a daily practice and not something that can be conceptualized. It really has to be something that becomes embedded in your psyche and something you practice and really believe in. Oddly enough for me, giving up control of a lot of things made me feel more powerful in a different way because the things I couldn't control were things I shouldn't have been trying to control anyway.
All those things rent space in your head, and it's negative space; we all have negative thoughts and chatter in our head, saying, "You don't know how to do things" or "You are scared of things" or "There's no way you can start over." Then there are thoughts like "You're too tall, too fat, too thin" - all that stuff... Whatever we tell ourselves daily, although they can come in a seemingly positive package, they are often negative.
It became a daily practice to take those thoughts – catch them midstream – and flip them over, find the positive alternative. About halfway through 2014 it really started to take a hold for me. Suddenly all the things I thought I was never able to do, always afraid of doing, started melting away. I found a real reality and freedom and empowerment in the possibility of everything. Suddenly everything became possible, like when I was 20 years old. Instead of saying, "I'm too old now," I'd see other people doing it and wonder why I was limiting myself? The universe will limit you, why limit yourself? That was the biggest thing for me... when I realized I had to stop limiting "me."
It must've been hard, as I doubt you saw yourself being in the position you were in – divorced again – and turning 48 in Hollywood?
Yes, finding myself divorced again – I wasn't supposed to be there. I thought, "What am I doing here?" I had to turn it around. I realized I was supposed to be here and that this is going to catapult me into possibilities I never even realized were there before. I came to terms with it - the fact this wasn't happening to me, it was happening for me. Once I started looking at things like that it really changed my perspective. My gosh... it's all about perspective and it's the hardest thing to change.
So the body part of things – the fantastic shape you're in – that came from the divorce and renewed commitment to yourself?
That kind of happened - they call it the divorce diet (laughs). So that happened, and then I decided to start eating healthier and work out more. You get to the point of being thin, and then it's time to tone and tune. I still don't work out more than four days a week; I started doing a little bit of everything. I went back to doing dance classes because I was a dancer a thousand years ago and it's a lot of fun for me, and that also helped get in touch with the inner child. I started horseback riding again, something I did as a kid. I added some Pilates, but at my age I found the important thing was really doing weights. Your muscles start to atrophy, so I do those two days a week for maybe an hour or so. I also jump on the treadmill for 15 minutes to warm up. I like to jog, but I don't do it too much – things like the joints start to hurt a little (laughs).
How proud of your achievement are you?
Well, I worked to get this way. But, seriously, nothing makes me more nervous - even when I was in my 20s and modeling - than being in a swimsuit. Believe me, I still feel nervous getting into a swimsuit; you always look at yourself and think perhaps I shouldn't have eaten all that bread yesterday? But at this stage I feel like, "OK! All right!" I mean, I don't kill myself in the gym, but I will definitely push myself. It's about going that extra mile because it's easy to cop out.
What's your diet like?
I really try to not eat a lot of white food: rice, bread and pasta. I eat a lot of green vegetables and a lot of grass-fed beef. I try to stay away from corn and soy because neither of those tend to be good for me. I took an allergy test a few years ago, and I think the GMOs in them are just toxic for me. But I love my goat cheese; I actually love cheese in any incarnation. I do try to stay away from potatoes, but when I cheat, it's mashed potatoes. But I don't do a lot of them.
People are going to be so angry that you can look like that and admit you cheat!
I also love Mexican food, but when I do, I'll try to get fish tacos. If I add enough salsa it still tastes like Mexican food to me, but always with flour tortillas. Still everyone has their thing, and everyone's body works differently. But when I say I eat Mexican food, it's like once every two months. And I do eat In & Out burgers, but it's about the proteins, so no bun. I love In & Out, but I never get the fries.
But seriously, you have to be so proud of yourself – you look amazing.
Still, I wasn't proud of myself a lot of times during the past year, and getting to this point these last few months – yeah, I feel reborn. I feel like that 20-year-old kid who thought the entire world was my oyster and anything is possible. I for sure look better than I did in my 30s, but my 20s... Back then I never had to work for it! (laughs).
