Sex isn’t typically the first topic you’d think of when it comes to Hallmark movies or Hallmark stars, but the popular cable channel’s stars have shown a refreshing openness the last few years in talking about what happens in their own bedrooms. Before Candace Cameron Bure left the network for GAF, she defended herself vigorously and celebrated sex within her own marriage when haters complained about her longtime husband touching her boob in a picture. Now current star Alexa PenaVega is displaying even more openness by getting honest about some struggles her marriage had in the bedroom.
Alexa PenaVega, who recently signed a new Hallmark deal, appeared on the podcast Heaven In Your Home to discuss her relationship with God and specifically, how it has affected her sex life with husband Carlos PenaVega. She was extremely candid during the chat about how she struggled with being intimate as often as he wanted, but that all changed when she started trying to change the way she viewed sex. Instead of seeing it as something she did separate from God, she started looking it as something that included God. Here’s a portion of her quote…
It’s funny because we always tell people that marriage is so holy, but you don’t really think about holiness in the bedroom. You just think about holiness as like you’re married, it’s beautiful, you eat together, you walk together, you go to church together, you sit in the pew. (You don’t think) God, I’m gonna bring you into the bedroom. It’s almost as if we shut the door on God when we walk into the bedroom when it should be the exact opposite.
Now, this quote might seem incredibly strange to those who didn’t grow up in extremely religious households, but the queasiness around sex is very common to people raised a certain way. In fact, PenaVega talked about this confusion and awkwardness in the podcast, as well. Basically, many people, prominently in very Christian households, grow up seeing sex as taboo, but then they get married and suddenly their perception is supposed to completely switch, and it’s just not that easy. Here’s some more of her quote…
If you have grown up in the church, you wait until marriage. You don’t really talk about sex. It’s this off-limits thing, right? Then all the sudden you get married and you’re just supposed to be gung-ho about it. We have these weird feelings and ideas toward sex. It’s almost like we think sex is bad and then all the sudden, we’re supposed to think sex is good. But all the sudden sex feels dirty. You just have all these weird feelings, right? It’s very confusing.
All of this came out as part of a larger conversation about Alexa PenaVega’s own marriage. The only real issue in their relationship was that he wanted to have sex more often than she did. He apparently made a comment about hoping his urge to have sex would lessen, but instead, she decided to work on some of her own hang-ups to increase the frequency she wanted to. That apparently worked very well for her, and she’s been talking to other people about her own journey ever since.
Loyal Hallmark fans may have noticed the network is on a bit of a journey of its own. No one would, of course, confuse one of its movies with a raunchy sex comedy, but the popular cable channel has started exploring different formats and structures to some of its movies, which you'll see on Hallmark's upcoming schedule. The popular Wedding Veil series, as an example, has stayed with couples following their weddings, and this has allowed scenes where married couples do things like lay in bed together and talk. Maybe down the road, we’ll even get some honest conversations about married life that feature some more adult themes.
Either way, Alexa PenaVega is blazing a trail of honesty and straightforwardness, and if it helps anyone else out there with their own relationships, it’s all worth it to her.
