Tamera Mowry-Housley remembers late niece Alaina on what would've been her 20th birthday
Tamera Mowry-Housley had mixed emotions this week, as she marked what would have been her late niece’s 20th birthday.
Alaina Housley was shot and killed when a gunman opened fire inside the crowded Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on Nov. 7, 2018. Twelve people were killed by the gunman before he shot himself.
Mowry-Housley wrote that she sees glimpses of Alaina in her son, 7-year-old Aden. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of you,” she captioned a photo of the cousins.
The former host of The Real also shares daughter Ariah, 5, with husband Adam Housley.
She’s spoken about the family tragedy before, especially in the days immediately after it happened. Both the actress and her husband, a former Fox News correspondent, used social media to search for Alaina’s whereabouts when they couldn’t locate her.
Her aunt and uncle released a statement saying their hearts were broken when she was confirmed as one of the victims: “Alaina was an incredible young woman with so much life ahead of her and we are devastated that her life was cut short in this manner. We thank everyone for your prayers and ask for privacy at this time.”
Alaina’s family described the Pepperdine University freshman as “a really good kid” with the ability to play multiple instruments. She planned to study the law, they told the Associated Press.
When Mowry-Housley returned to her talk show nearly three weeks later, she broke down while discussing what had happened with her co-hosts.
“She was my niece from marriage, but she was my friend and my sister from my heart,” Mowry-Housley said. “I loved that girl.”
In September 2019, she said on the show that she was enrolled in grief therapy as part of the healing process.
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