Photo Source: Miramax/Instagram/Lloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

From attaining a bodybuilders physique to undergoing transformations that render them unrecognizable, actors will go to lofty heights for physically-demanding rolesome in healthier ways than others. From indie film stars to superheroes to Tony winners, here are 19 stars who dramatically transformed their appearance for a role.

Rene ZellwegerFrom 12 courses of fatty foods a day to an exercise ban, Zellweger is known for throwing herself into her Bridget Jones Diary diet. However, the actress has said the fixation on her characters weightand her weight gain to play the rolehas been too scrutinized, and that no male actor would ever receive the same attention.

Kumail NanjianiThe Big Sick actor shocked fans in December when he revealed his transformation to play the leading role in Marvels upcoming The Eternals. In addition to workouts, the most challenging part was the extreme diet. Nanjiani cut out pizza, donuts, refined sugar, and carbs for a whole year. In an interview, he said he felt a responsibility to get in shape because he will be the first Pakistani superhero in a mainstream Hollywood movie.

Chris HemsworthKnown for his extreme workouts to achieve the muscular body of Norse God and Marvel superhero Thor, Hemsworth shocked fans with a photo of his body transformation for the 2015 film In the Heart of the Sea. He had to drop over 30 pounds to play the lead, Owen Chase, a sailor who becomes stranded at sea, right after wrapping Blackhat and juggling the Thor: The Dark World press tour.

Charlize TheronTheron gained 30 pounds to play the role of convicted serial killer Aileen Wuornos in 2003s Monster, which landed her an Academy Award. More recently, she gained almost 50 pounds for her starring role in the 2018 film Tully. She said the transformation hit her with depression, as she had to consume processed foods and sugary drinks for three-and-a-half months. Compared to her weight gain for Monster, she said this time it took longer to shed the pounds.

Will SmithFor the 2001 feature Ali, Smith spent a whole year with a trainer to embody legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. He said he was willing to sacrifice everything to live up to Alis legacy in the film, gaining 35 pounds and doing all the films fight scenes without a stunt double.

Christian BaleWith more roles requiring physical transformations than you can count on one hand, Bale most recently gained weight for his role as former Vice President Dick Cheney in the 2019 film Vice by eating a lot of pies. In 2005, he completely drained his body of muscle and dropped down to 110 pounds for his role in The Machinist, then spent six months binge-eating and weight lifting to bulk up for the titular role in Batman Begins.

READ: Christian Bale Became a Detective for Vice Role

Emma StoneStone worked with celebrity trainer Jason Walsh to bulk up for the 2017 film Battle of the Sexes; she drank protein shakes consistently to put on the pounds and muscle, transforming her body to make her built like tennis legend Billie Jean King.

BeyoncFor her role in the 2006 movie musical Dreamgirls, Beyonc allegedly drank nothing but a lemon juice mixture for 10 days called The Master Cleanse, which helped her lose 20 pounds. The now-popularized juice cleanse is mainly used for quick weight loss, but is not a sustainable diet. Beyonc admitted she quickly gained the weight back once she went off the diet.

Alex BrightmanThe Tony-nominated actors leading role in School of Rock was so physically demanding that he lost a pound or two every week while performing. However, the role itself required him to put on extra weighta tough balance to strike! For his more recent theater role as the titular Beetlejuice, he gave up alcohol and went to the gym daily, as the role requires a strong core.

Mark RuffaloFor HBOs miniseries I Know This Much Is True, Ruffalo played twin brothers, one of whom was written to be heavier than the other. As such, he shot all his scenes for the first character (the svelter of the two), before spending five weeks working to gain 30 pounds to then play the other. That is dual devotion!

Ben PlattBen Platt has come a long way from his breakout role as magic-loving geek Benji Applebaum in Pitch Perfect. He lost 30 pounds to play the lead in Broadways Dear Evan Hansen by cutting out dairy and gluten and frequenting Soul Cycle, wanting to convincingly embody the anxious 17-year-old and stay healthy for the demanding eight-show-a-week schedule. His efforts paid off; he won a 2017 leading actor in a musical Tony Award.

Ramin KarimlooFor his Tony-nominated Broadway debut as Jean Valjean in the 2014 revival of Les Misrables, Karimloo started the INSANITY program six months prior to the shows opening. After reading the novel and learning about how keeping in shape was an integral part of his character, he ate 5,000 calories a day, was bodybuilding between shows, and cycled 16 miles. By the time he reached Broadway, he was deadlifting almost 500 pounds and benching 300.

Zoe KravitzKravitzs cleanse to play the anorexic and bulimic lead Marie in the 2014 film The Road Within involved some questionable methods, including drinking clay and eating a Mason jar of pureed vegetables daily. Though the diet helped her lose 20 pounds for the role, she went on to say it was awful and wouldnt encourage others to attempt it.

Joaquin PhoenixTo quote Melissa Villaseor in an installment of Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live: Joaquin Phoenix, skinny skinny. The actor lost over 50 pounds in just a few months to play his titular, Oscar-winning role in Joker, and reported symptoms of eating disorders after giving himself an emaciated look for the character. With a long reputation for method acting, he was honest that his weight loss also hugely impacted his mental health.

Neil Patrick HarrisAfter wrapping up his role as Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother, Harris went through a strict weight loss plan to take on the starring role in the 2014 Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The Tony Award winner did nothing but cardio for months to lose the weight. Combined with the demanding energy involved in the 90-minute performance, Harriss role as Hedwig helped maintain the weight loss.

Jason MomoaFamous for his role as Khal Drogo in the first season of Game of Thrones, Momoa never lifted a weight until he had to get into shape for 2011s Conan the Barbarian. The breakout role led to his addition into the DC universe as Aquaman, which again had him build and sculpt his body to attain the superheros classic physique.

Margot RobbieTo nail the look of figure skater Tonya Harding in the 2017 biopic I, Tonya, the Australian actress trained on the ice four hours a day, five days a week, for five months straight. Robbie ended up with a herniated disk in her neck from throwing herself into the training with a choreographer for entire sequences of Hardings routines.

Halle Berry53-year-old Berry went viral after sharing a photo of the six-pack she got through training for her upcoming MMA film and directorial debut Bruised. From training four hours a day to intermittent fasting to a keto diet, Berry has been consistently posting inspirational workout videos and photos every Friday on her Instagram.

Brie LarsonThe Captain Marvel actress trained for nine months to get into shape even before the movie started shooting. Throughout the process, she shared videos of herself on Instagram highlighting her strength, including one in which she pushed a nearly 5,000-pound Jeep for a workout.

Looking for remote work? Backstage has got you covered! Click here for auditions you can do from home!

Read the original here:
19 Actors Who Drastically Transformed Their Bodies for Roles - Backstage

New Delhi : With changing times we also need to change our lifestyle in order to help our body adjust to the environment. In today's time, we cannot ignore our health and fitness and our diet plays an important role when it comes to our health and fitness. Be it for the sake of fitness or weight loss, we all have a fixed diet and eating pattern that we follow. We are what we eat and everything we consume shows up on our body and this is why it is important that we watch our diet and eat healthy. Now, many of us are not very religious when it comes to fitness and workout but dieting can seem like the easy way out. While there is nothing wrong with dieting, it is also very important that we figure out the best diet that suits our body's needs and provides it with all the essential nutrients.

Most people follow different diet fads and one such trending diet plan is the body reset diet. It is being followed by numerous celebs and happens to be a 15-day eating pattern. This diet is believed to help one shed weight quickly and also boosts metabolism. Created by Harley Pasternak, a celebrity trainer, this diet focuses on rapid weight loss. It is a smoothie based diet plan which has a lot of calorie restrictions and workout as well. The popular trainer also wrote a complete book on this diet and how to cook simple and healthy meals for this diet. It focuses on homemade smoothies, high-fiber snacks and simple meals along with some light exercise like walking or resistance training or weight training.

The body reset diet has 3 phase of 5 days each and every phase has a specific diet plan along with the recipes and the number of solid meals, smoothies, snacks and the workout to focus on. This diet contains nutrient-rich food items and can help accelerate weight loss but at the same time, it can also restrict calories a bit too much which can potentially lead to nutrient deficiencies and can also take a toll on your metabolism and slow it down. It can also reduce muscle mass and impact your health. It is important to understand that every diet has some downsides and ensure that you sit down with a nutritionist and set up a nutrient-rich diet plan which can provide for your body.

Go here to read the rest:
The Body Reset Diet: Everything you need to know about this diet plan - NEWS HEADS

One factor driving the increase in zoonotic disease outbreaks is that human activities including population growth, migration and consumption of wild animals are leading to increased encounters with wildlife. At the same time, genetic mutations in viruses and other microbes are creating new opportunities for disease emergence.

But humans remain largely ignorant of our planet's biodiversity and its natural ecosystems. Only two million species about 20% of all the estimated species on Earth have even been named In our view, this fundamental ignorance of nearly all aspects of biodiversity has resulted in an inefficient, poorly coordinated and minimally science-based response to key aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have diverse backgrounds in plant and mammal evolution and emerging infectious diseases. In a newly published commentary that we wrote with colleagues from across the U.S. and in six other countries, we identify a largely untapped resource for predicting future pandemics: natural history collections in museums around the world.

These collections preserve specimens of animals, plants and other organisms that illustrate the diversity of life on Earth. They are reservoirs of information and samples that can help scientists identify likely pathogen sources, hosts and transmission pathways. We believe that leveraging collections in this way will require more resources and more collaboration between biodiversity scientists and disease outbreak sleuths.

Archives of Life on Earth

Research shows that zoonotic diseases have increased due to human intrusion into animal habitats. In particular, destruction of tropical rain forests throughout the world has brought us face to face with microbes that occur naturally in wild animals and can cause disease in our own species.

Earth's biodiversity is connected through a family tree. Viruses, bacteria and other microbes have evolved with their hosts for millions of years. As a result, a virus that resides in a wild animal host such as a bat without causing disease can be highly pathogenic when transmitted to humans. This is the case with zoonotic diseases.

Unfortunately, national responses to disease outbreaks are often based on very limited knowledge of the basic biology, or even the identity, of the pathogen and its wild host. As scientists, we believe that harnessing centuries of biological knowledge and resources from natural history collections can provide an informed road map to identify the origin and transmission of disease outbreaks.

These collections of animals, plants and fungi date back centuries and are the richest sources of information available about life on Earth. They are housed in museums ranging from the Smithsonian Institution to small colleges.

Together, the world's natural history collections are estimated to contain more than three billion specimens, including preserved specimens of possible hosts of the coronaviruses that have led to SARS, MERS and COVID-19. They provide a powerful distribution map of our planet's biodiversity over space and through time.

View this post on Instagram

Sunbirds are a family of brilliantly colored birds that live in Africa and Asia. Their plumage exemplifies the two ways feather color is formed: by pigment or structure. The red feathers on the breast are colored by pigments in the feathers. These colored substances can be naturally present or come from dietlike the carotenoids in crustaceans that result in pink flamingos. The feather colors on the neck and face are formed structurally. As light refracts through the proteins in the feathers, certain colors pass through while others reflect back as iridescent purple and green.

A post shared by Field Museum (@fieldmuseum) on Nov 21, 2019 at 11:49am PST

Preserved Pathogens

How can researchers channel these collections toward disease discovery? Each specimen say, a species of pitcher plant from Florida or a deer mouse from arid New Mexico is catalogued with a scientific name, a collection date and the place where it was collected, and often with other relevant information. These records underpin scientists' understanding of where host species and their associated pathogens are found and when they occurred there.

Connecting the site of a disease outbreak to potential pathogen hosts that occur in that area can help to pinpoint likely hosts, sources of pathogens, and pathways of transmission from hosts to humans and from one human to another. These natural history collections are connected worldwide through massive online databases, so a researcher anywhere in the world can find information on potential hosts in far-off regions.

But that's just the beginning. A preserved specimen of a rodent, a bat or any other potential host animal in a collection also carries preserved pathogens, such as coronaviruses. This means that researchers can quickly survey microbes using specimens that were collected decades or more before for an entirely different purpose. They can use this information to quickly identify a pathogen, associate it with particular wild hosts, and then reconstruct the past distributions and evolution of disease-causing microbes and hosts across geographic space.

Many collections contain frozen samples of animal specimens stored in special low-temperature freezers. These materials can be quickly surveyed for microbes and possible human pathogens using genetic analysis. Scientists can compare DNA sequences of the pathogens found in animal specimens with the disease-causing agent to identify and track pathways of transmission.

Nitrogen freezers for cryo-preserving specimens in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Biorepository. Donald E. Hurlbert/Smithsonian, CC BY-ND

Equipping Museums and Connecting Scientists

Natural history collections have the potential to help revolutionize studies of epidemics and pandemics. But to do this, they will need more support.

Even though they play a foundational role in biology, collections are generally underfunded and understaffed. Many of them lack recent specimens or associated frozen tissues for genetic analyses. Many regions of our planet have been poorly sampled, especially the most biodiverse countries near the tropics.

To leverage biodiversity science for biomedical research and public health, museums will need more field sampling; new facilities to house collections, especially in biodiverse countries; and expanded databases for scientists who collect the samples, analyze DNA sequences and track transmission routes. These investments will require increased funding and innovations in biomedical and biodiversity sciences.

Another challenge is that natural history curators and pathobiologists who study the mechanisms of disease work in separate scientific communities and are only vaguely aware of each other's resources, despite clear benefits for both basic and clinical research. We believe now is the time to reflect on how to leverage diverse resources and build stronger ties between natural history museums, pathobiologists and public health institutions. Collaboration will be key to our ability to predict, and perhaps forestall, future pandemics.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Original post:
18 Foods and Drinks That Are Surprisingly High in Sugar - EcoWatch

Content note: This article contains detailed descriptions of what its like to live with an eating disorder.

In the first weeks of the pandemic, my main concerns were survival-based. Was my income going to take a hit? Was I going to get sick? Were the stores going to look like a disaster movie indefinitely? Im lucky and grateful that most of these issues have worked themselves out.

The people around me adapted to pandemic life pretty easily too. My fianc became an overnight baking enthusiast while my friends started a group chat where we share our daily meals or the viral TikTok recipes making the rounds (quick recap to the Dalgona coffee days, anyone?)

In fact, food quickly became all anyone could talk about.

My feed became inundated with mouthwatering headlines about how to make breakfast cereal out of mini pancakes and three-step creme brulee. Even some of the celebrity accounts I follow for fun have become food montages Selena Gomez recently shared her go-to cooking tunes on Spotify and announced plans to star in a cooking series on HBO.

I get it. The words global and pandemic paired together echo a severity that is hard for anyone to wrap their mind around. It makes sense that a common way of dealing with this scary time is to quite literally nurture ourselves.

But for me, food isnt so simple. I was diagnosed with Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED) at 16, and Ive been in recovery for just over 2 years now. Pre-COVID-19, my relationship with food had progressed to a mostly normal and balanced level.

Thanks to structure and the presence of daily routines, I learned to make food secondary to my work, friendships, and family. But staying in all day, every day, coupled with the online emphasis on self-isolation recipes and a less busy schedule (I used to build my day around work, my friends, and going to the gym) means I now carve my day around the meals I cook and consume.

According to the director of services from BEAT, the UKs leading eating disorder charity, calls to their helpline have increased by 50 percent alongside a 78 percent rise in social media contact. They attribute this to the change in routines, living situations, and diet plans, which can be triggering to someone with an ED.

Melissa A. Fabello, PhD, a feminist wellness educator whose work focuses on body politics and eating disorders, has found that the pandemic is intensifying feelings of depression and anxiety. Its no surprise eating disorders are on the rise as well, she says.

Eating disorders affect an estimated 30 million people in the United States alone, which doesnt even account for those who experience disordered eating, a set of harmful habits and behaviors that dont meet the diagnosis standard. And despite often being portrayed a white, cis womans illness, they touch all ages, genders, and sexual orientations.

Eating disorders manifest in many ways, from a refusal to eat to bingeing and purging to being fixated on healthy eating.

For me, it was like an endless Excel sheet of numbers in my mind I would find myself doing the math of every bite consumed, surrendering myself to the never-ending permutations and combinations of the caloric value each bite of food held. Thats how it went every single day, like a standard questionnaire my mind had to fill out for my body, and it was never satisfied.

As if that werent enough, my eating disorder brought along uninvited guests such as body dysmorphia, depression, and anxiety. My path to recovery was a bumpy one. The more demons I wrestled with, the more complicated my mental health struggle became. And now Im feeling my mental state deteriorate once again due to the loneliness and lack of external stimulation.

One day I came across an online support group on Instagram that holds weekly programs where people struggling with an ED can meet up virtually to share their struggles and just foster a sense of community and belonging.

The founder, Diane, says that in this pandemic, pervasive diet culture has found a way to exploit peoples self-image fears during a vulnerable time. There have also been countless quarantine fit challenges and a barrage of memes that unintentionally promote fatphobia and shaming.

On the surface, these fitness memes and challenges are simply encouraging healthy behavior, right? Not exactly sinister. But Ive seen far too many of these accounts set weight loss goals and give info on how to cut out unhealthy snacking. Even though I know theyre capitalizing on peoples fears, my stomach still sinks every time I see a post.

I do my best to unfollow these accounts and have even gone on a couple of social media detoxes since the pandemic started. Unfortunately, most of my job involves remaining active on social media, so its a pretty unsustainable solution.

Recovering from an ED isnt as simple as deciding to eat three balanced meals in a day its an uphill mental struggle.

The first step in dealing with this has been to allow myself the space to struggle and try not to lose myself down a rabbit hole of blame and anger. It would be unfair to expect myself not to struggle these are unprecedented circumstances.

Ive also started talking to the people close to me about my struggles. As a result, my family and friends now consciously try not to talk too much about food, which makes me feel supported and less isolated and therefore less anxious. Their support also reminds me that its not all just in my head. These are very real problems with very real consequences.

Plus, this has prompted them to schedule regular hangout sessions as a way to keep my mind off things, and it helps them with their boredom too. We Netflix Party almost every weekend and work out together on Zoom a few times a week.

My therapist now gives Zoom counseling which has been a tremendous help and got me to try journaling. This makes me plan out the whole day, which helps me avoid making the day food-centric. All these strategies have been helpful in shifting my focus away from food and onto the importance of the healthy, supportive relationships in my life.

I try not to put too much pressure on myself. Its OK if my recovery takes a little hit right now. The important part is trying to take a small step toward healing the next day. Yes, the future is hazy and distant right now, but we shouldnt rob ourselves of the proper self-love and care that we deserve.

Zee Praise is a content strategist and writer who focuses on self-help, lifestyle, and entrepreneurship pieces. You can connect with her on Twitter or Facebook and read some of her work over at Medium.

See original here:
Recovering from an ED in Self-Isolation Is Tough Here's What I've L - Greatist

The accordion hummed, the snare snapped, and a warm baritone voice rolled out over the cemetery lawn.

Yo se lo dije a mi padre, quiero que vengas conmigo.

I told my father, I want you to come with me.

A Catholic priest stood over a white enameled coffin with gleaming brass fittings. One at a time, each member of the small funeral party tossed a handful of dirt into the grave in a North Hollywood cemetery.

Quiero pistiar esta noche, como dos grandes amigos, para decirte pap, lo mucho que te he querido.

I want to drink tonight like two old friends, so I can tell you, Dad, how much Ive loved you.

The corrido, La Troca del Moo Negro by norteo band Los Originales de San Juan, is a tender plea from a son to a father, a request that if the son dies, the father not cry and in place of a hearse use the sons black pickup truck, adorned with a black bow.

But as Gaspr Gmezs family buried him in the shade of a tree, the melody and words carried a different weight. Instead of the fated death of a child, the mourners wept over the loss of a father.

Chosen by one of his daughters, Lucy Gmez, the song was a tribute for a corrido-loving, hardworking man who spent many dark years estranged from his children and who often failed to be the stalwart father the lyrics describe as a man of steel.

The tribute was made all the more poignant by the knowledge that the coronavirus caught up to Gaspr even as he was working to repair a life marred by substance abuse struggles and legal trouble.

How does your life straighten up and then youre taken again? Lucy asked.

Cuando raye el sol, tengo una bronca pesada. Si no me vuelves a ver, la suerte ya estaba echada.

Gaspr Gmez turned a corner after he met Elba Regalado. He stopped drinking and began attending Mass with her.

(Photo courtesy of Elba Regalado)

Once the sun shines, Ill face a tough reckoning. If you dont see me again, we were already out of luck.

Gaspr was born in Santo Domingo de Atani, a small town in the Sierra Juarez mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. As a teenager he immigrated to the United States along with his sweetheart, Mara.

He didnt have papers, so he found work as a day laborer on construction projects, the same work he would do for more than three decades until COVID-19 made him too weak to continue.

The couple moved to Van Nuys and had four children: Mara, Lucy, Stacie and Cristin. Gaspr loved to take them to the beach, to the pool and to the park every Sunday after Mass.

He was a really good dad when we were kids, said Mara de Jess Gmez, his oldest daughter. He worked so hard for us. He just wanted to be happy and loved.

When the children were still young, Gaspr and his wife divorced. The children went with their mother. Lucy called the divorce his downfall.

He begged for us to stay with him. But we were just kids. I dont know if he understood that we didnt have a choice, Mara said. If you dont have help and you dont have loved ones, its destructive.

COLUMN ONE

COLUMN ONE

A showcase for compelling storytelling from the Los Angeles Times.

Desde muy chico cre que eras el hombre de acero.

Since I was very young, I believed you were the man of steel.

In real life, there are few men of steel. Gaspr began to drink heavily and soon turned to drugs. His brother Marcelo, who worked alongside Gaspr on construction projects for decades, joined him.

We were lost in alcohol and drugs, Marcelo said in Spanish. Wed do crack and crystal. Whatever we could find. You find so much in the streets.

Court documents show Gaspr pleaded no contest on three occasions to reckless driving and driving without a license, grand theft and possession of controlled substances for sale. Family members say that this was only a fraction of his legal troubles and that he spent at least five stints in jail and that government officials deported him at least three times.

If they [the police] saw him on the street with a beer theyd be like Vmonos pafuera. Lets go, youre out of here, said Marcelo, laughing. He was en malos pasos on a bad path.

When Gaspr was deported, hed call Marcelo for help. At times, Marcelo would tell his brother he needed to get clean first. But I would always bring him back. Hes my brother.

His ex-wife and children settled in Madera, four hours north of Los Angeles. Sometimes Lucy and Mara would ride down on the bus to visit. He shared an apartment with a few other men, but when the girls came for Christmas, he made sure to decorate with Christmas lights so theyd feel at home. He liked to take the two to local restaurants to dance.

Before he fell ill with COVID-19, Gaspr Gmez had begun reconciling with his children after several years of estrangement.

(Photo courtesy of Lucy Gomez)

For the children, life back in Madera was hard. Mara joined the Army at 17 and eventually resettled in Washington state. Lucy remained close with Gaspr and was eventually adopted by a couple in Porter Ranch who had employed Gaspr off and on for years.

T has sido mi protector, tambin mi madre querida.

You have been my protector, so has my dear mother.

Often, instead of Gaspr protecting his family, it was family that protected Gaspr. The third time Gaspr was deported, Lucy said that at first, he didnt want to come back. But Gaspr had spent his adulthood in the United States. His life was here. His children were here, even if he didnt see them often.

Lucy, then just 17 years old, said she helped raise the $1,500 to pay for a coyote to smuggle him across the border.

But then the coyote called. Gaspr made it across the border, but the smugglers were holding him at a drophouse somewhere in Arizona. If the family didnt find an extra $1,500 per Lucys recollection they would kill Gaspr.

No one is really sure why Gasprs smugglers-turned-captors eventually relented maybe they got softer, maybe they realized they wouldnt get the money, maybe Gaspr got sick but they did, allowing a family member to come pick him up.Gaspr didnt talk about the ordeal afterward, but Lucy said he didnt emotionally recover for a few years. And still, Gaspr struggled with substance abuse. Eventually even Lucy cut off contact.

If you dont want to change, I cant change you, Lucy recalled telling him. I hope that one day you do get to find that family.

Then one day, while waiting in line at the supermarket, he met Elba Regalado. Gaspr was abundantly friendly and quickly struck up a conversation it was in his nature, Elba said. She was getting ready to pay, and Gaspr wouldnt stop chatting.

They became friends, and eventually a couple. She loved his charm, his charisma, his dancing.

Like many of his close friends and family, she fondly referred to him as el gordito (the little chubby man). Lucy said some people didnt know him by any other name.

At first, he still drank. A lot. Elba said he sometimes carried around cans of beer in a backpack. She said that once, after a night of heavy drinking, he tried to hit her. She decided she was done.

But Gaspr wasnt. She ignored his calls, over and over, until finally picking up to tell him she couldnt be with him. He begged for a second chance and she agreed, cautiously. And it was then, his family said, that he began to turn a corner.

I stayed in my world and I would see [Gaspr and Elba] go out to eat, to the park. He had changed so much. He seemed so, so happy, said Marcelo, who continued to struggle with substance abuse until himself quitting two years ago, partially thanks to Gasprs encouragement.

He needed a family to take care of. It gave him that chance of living again, Lucy said. Gaspr stopped drinking and began attending Mass with Elba.

Gaspr Gmez and partner Elba Regalado in a playful moment. He had changed so much. He seemed so, so happy, his brother Marcelo said.

(Photo courtesy of Elba Regalado)

My brother and I started getting closer to God, Marcelo said. I talk to God every day and thank him that Im alive.

Elba and Gaspr moved in together with her teenage daughter, Janette, in Pacoima (Elbas older daughter, Marisela, lived in Mexico at the time). Lucy started talking to him again. She got to dance with him one more time at Elbas daughters quinceaera a few years ago. He even began communicating with his other children again.

On April 13, Gaspr told Elba he was feeling sick. A few days later, he tested positive for COVID-19, then was hospitalized with respiratory problems. On May 3, after almost three weeks on a ventilator, Gaspr died. He was 51.

The last time Mara saw Gaspr was seven years ago, while she was visiting a relative in Los Angeles.

After five years in the military and a tour in Iraq, Mara had gone to college in Portland, Ore., then moved to Washington. Every once in a while daughter and father would catch up over the phone, but after years of distance, the reconciliation process was painstakingly slow.

Im 31 years old and Ive spent half my life without my dad, she said, sobbing. I didnt even know if I was entitled to mourn him.

Dame un abrazo papa, tal vez sea la despedida.

Give me a hug, Dad, maybe itll be our goodbye.

Times staff writer Toms Mier contributed to this report.

See more here:
A life recovered, then taken by coronavirus - Los Angeles Times