Whatever Happened To Daisy Fuentes?

Daisy Fuentes broke barriers in the early '90s as MTV's first Latina V.J. when she joined the network in 1993. Fuentes, who was born in Havana and got her start as a model at age 16, went on to host MTV's fashion series "House of Style" and appeared in series such as "Baywatch" and "Cybill," among others. Fuentes was a recognizable face and seemed to be everywhere in the '90s and early 2000s but sort of disappeared from the screen after that.

But Fuentes continued to keep busy, helming her own clothing brand and becoming an advocate for animals and childhood cancer research. She even returned to TV as the host of Telemundo's "La Voz Kids," a Spanish language version of "The Voice," and found love with singer-songwriter Richard Marx. Fuentes has never stopped hustling, parlaying her clothing line into a full-fledged lifestyle brand and branching out into new media ventures, such as a podcast she developed with her husband in 2020. While Daisy Fuentes has come to enjoy a simpler lifestyle over the years, she is still thriving and is as vivacious as ever. Read on to learn more about what Daisy Fuentes has been up to over the years.

Daisy Fuentes began her charity work with St. Jude Children's Hospital in 1997 after visiting the facility and meeting some of the kids. She was initially unsure as to how she could help. As she wrote in a blog post on Guideposts, "I knew fashion, beauty, fitness, and music, not medicine. ... What could I really do for them?" But Fuentes recalled her own mother's battle with breast cancer and knew she wanted to participate in some way.

Fuentes was inspired by the young patients she met at St. Jude and went on to organize the FedEx/St. Jude Angels and Stars Gala in Miami. "St. Jude organized fundraising events in Miami but never a glamorous gala, and I knew the community would welcome that," Fuentes shared with Glamour. The gala became an annual event and raised $900,000 in 2025 alone.

Over the years, Fuentes has been fiercely dedicated to this important charity, which covers the entire cost of treatment, travel expenses, housing, and food for St. Jude patients and their families. "I consider my voice to be a privilege," Fuentes told Glamour. "So I will continue to spread the word about this mission."

Daisy Fuentes began her modeling career when she was just 16 years old, so it makes sense that she would eventually parlay her celebrity into a successful fashion line. In 2004, Fuentes launched her clothing line at Kohl's, which she created along with her design team. Fuentes created her line with her own style in mind, as well as inspiration from her friends, mom, and sister, aiming to make clothing that looked high-end at an affordable price point. "They're clothes for every woman who has a sense of fashion, who's busy in her life, and who wants to look like they're wearing something expensive without having to spend a lot of money," Fuentes shared with New You.

Fuentes' foray into fashion was a huge success, and her clothing line has been featured during New York Fashion Week with rave reviews. Fuentes eventually branched out and created Daisy Fuentes Style, a lifestyle brand that includes beauty products, accessories, and footwear. The former model credits her parents with instilling in her a keen business sense that has made her successful in her fashion endeavors and beyond. "They taught me to appreciate a good opportunity when it arose and to prepare myself for whatever came of it," Fuentes told New You.

In 2012, Daisy Fuentes continued combining her love of fashion with her savvy business sense and released a line of wigs and hairpieces called Luxhair Wow. Fuentes created the hair collection with versatility in mind. As she told The Oklahoman, "With my new collection, changing your hairstyle or color is as easy as changing your dress."

Fuentes' pieces, which ranged from pixie styles to hair falls and bobs, among others, were both on trend and classic, which was important to the former model when creating the line. "I'm a big fan of taking pictures of yourself or creating moments that are going to look amazing next week or next year," she shared with Wigs.com.

Fuentes also emphasized that Luxhair Wow was born from her love of fashion and fit well with her thriving clothing brand. "[F]or me, it's an extension of what I do, it's an extension of fashion," she explained. "[Y]ou don't have to commit to anything drastic to really change your look and have fun with it."

In 2013, Daisy Fuentes returned to the small screen, once again as a host for a music-related program. Fuentes joined co-host Jorge Bernal for a Spanish-language singing competition called "La Voz Kids." The show, which aired on Telemundo, was based on NBC's "The Voice," but this version focused on finding child singers who had the chops to become the next big thing in music.

Fuentes, who got her start as a weather girl on a Telemundo affiliate station, was happy to return to the Latin broadcast and had been waiting for the right project to come along. "I always wanted to return to Hispanic television, and I haven't made any personal projects since my days on MTV," she shared with HuffPost.

According to Fuentes, it was the element of having child contestants that sold her on the show, but it was also something that made filming somewhat bittersweet. "[I]t is very intense because you fell in love with the little ones," Fuentes revealed. "As the show progresses, you get to know the children and their families, and you start having more connection to them, and it makes it more difficult."

Daisy Fuentes and musician Richard Marx began dating in 2013, and the pair proved they were more than just a romantic match when they collaborated on a song for Marx's 2014 album "Beautiful Goodbye." Fuentes co-wrote the album's titular track with Marx over the course of just a few hours, and Marx was impressed with Fuentes' ideas, especially because she had never written a song before. " She heard this piece of music that I had written and she said, 'You know, it would be really badass if you could write a song that said this, and this, and this ... I said, 'Well, you're kind of writing it right now, just keep talking," Marx explained in his album commentary.

According to Fuentes, her idea for the song came from wanting to write something about a relationship that isn't meant to last forever. "The song is read from the point of view of a person who knows that this is going to end but it's still wonderful," she shared with New You. Ironically, time has proved that Fuentes and Marx in fact did have the kind of love that was built to last.

A year after writing their song "Beautiful Goodbye" together, Daisy Fuentes and Richard Marx said hello to marriage and officially tied the knot. The couple were married in 2015, just a few days before Christmas in Aspen, Colorado. Marx commemorated the event with an adorable Instagram pic of himself and Fuentes on their big day, captioning it, "On December 23rd, 2015 the magnificent @daisyfuentes gave me the honor of becoming my wife."

Fuentes, who was previously married to "Sunset Beach" actor Timothy Adams, and Marx, who was previously married to "Dirty Dancing" star Cynthia Rhodes, chalk up the longevity of their marriage to their deep friendship. "We are best friends, but we never, ever take each other for granted," Marx shared with People. As of 2025, the pair were still going strong, and Marx was as in love with Fuentes as when they first met. "I'm still absolutely bonkers for her, and she makes me feel like the most awesome, handsome, talented ... we lift each other up," the musician said.

Daisy Fuentes had long been an animal lover, and in 2016, she partnered with the ASPCA to bring awareness to the importance of animal adoption as well as spaying and neutering. "People need to adopt more ... we need to put these animals in loving homes, and less animals will be killed," Fuentes shared with E! News. This cause was close to Fuentes' heart because she had experience with fostering animals herself — two pit bulls who were in danger of being euthanized. "I could see their potential to be the sweetest dogs. I could also see the potential of them being, you know, right back at the shelter if they were with the wrong person because they're pit bulls that weigh about 100 pounds," Fuentes explained.

Fuentes also spoke out about switching to a vegan diet after having watched documentaries about factory farming. "Once I stopped looking away and saw the horrors ... I could never unsee it," she shared with Compassionate Living, adding, "I no longer see food; I see the animal." Fuentes went on to express to the outlet that she was passionate enough about the cause to use her social media platforms to spread awareness and educate others on animal cruelty. "I know so many people would stop eating meat if they just took the blinders off and made the connection," she said.

In 2019, Daisy Fuentes resumed hosting duties once again, this time for Ancestry.com's documentary series "A New Leaf". The show featured individuals learning about their roots through genealogy, DNA analysis, and family history, sometimes with surprising and emotional results. "We find out about people's history, people's family, people's ancestry to really connect the dots and bring everybody together and really get a sense of who you are and where you come from," Fuentes told KTLA.

As for Fuentes' own background, it was more difficult to uncover since she was born in Havana and her family came from Cuba and Spain where records were not necessarily as easy to uncover as they might be in the United States "[I]t does get a little more complicated," Fuentes told Access Hollywood. "The U.S. Census helps a lot."

Fuentes was the perfect choice to host "A New Leaf" because she shared the excitement of the people on the show, who often uncovered fascinating things about their origins. "[A] lot of times it does change the way you look at yourself, and it does change the way you move forward," Fuentes explained.

In 2020, Daisy Fuentes and her husband Richard Marx collaborated once again, this time on a podcast called "Tequila Talk w/ Daisy Fuentes and Richard Marx." The podcast features the couple chatting about all kinds of topics ranging from music, aging, mental health, media, and other cultural issues.

According to Fuentes, the podcast came about organically and began with her and Marx talking on an Instagram Live while enjoying a drink. "We love to talk and we love tequila," she told VegNews. "Some people thought we should make it a regular thing." The couple ran with the idea, making sure their podcast discussions were both relatable and informative. "We talked about everything you'd talk about when having a drink with a friend ... current affairs, pop culture, stories in the news," Fuentes shared. "We vented, we got philosophical, discussed the world — I loved it."

As for the podcast's official drink, Fuentes revealed that a vodka martini was actually her and her husband's cocktail of choice, though she did have a favorite tequila. "Añejo or extra añejo. Something where I can taste a little of the barrel. I like a sipping tequila," Fuentes told Forbes.

After years in the spotlight and having worked since she was a teenager, Daisy Fuentes has come to embrace a simpler way of living. She adapted to a vegan diet and so did her husband Richard Marx, which was a positive lifestyle change that Fuentes hoped would lead to a longer and healthier life. "We have more sunsets behind us than in front of us, so we want to stay healthy as long as possible to enjoy life together," she shared with Forbes.

Fuentes has also learned to appreciate what is important in life, like spending time with her husband and their beloved pooch, and enjoying time in nature. "So many luxuries and acquisitions have become so silly and unnecessary," she told VegNews. "I've learned that I love being home, cooking, reading, and learning." And in typical Daisy Fuentes fashion, she has a way of coping when things don't work out the way she'd planned. "When the world gives me lemons, I get some tequila and make the best of it," she said.