"We need change," a tearful Tamera Mowry told "The Real" viewers after her niece was shot to death.
Tamera Mowry broke down Monday as she returned to "The Real," just two weeks after her niece was shot and killed at California's Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks.
The 40-year-old actress wept after reuniting with co-stars Jeannie Mai, Loni Love and Adrienne Bailon. "I'm OK," she said, through tears. "I'm sorry. Our family's been through a lot, but the interesting thing about grief is that you've gotta find the balance of moving forward and grieving at the same time."
College student Alaina Housley, 18, was one of 12 people gunned down earlier this month at a country bar and dance club. Mowry and her husband, former Fox News correspondent Adam Housley, took to social media after the mass shooting, trying to find information about her niece, whose body was on the floor of the blood-splattered venue.
Mowry said she first met Alaina when the girl was 5. "She was so sweet," Mowry said on the talk show. "When Alaina would walk in a room, she would change the atmosphere."
The actress also made an emotional plea for better gun laws in the United States.
"I don't care if I have to knock on the doors of the White House to do it. Alaina was very sweet, loving and kind," she said. "She was also a debater, so she would want me to debate that, but also I believe that it starts from within.
"Our country, and it's sad to say this, but you have to be living underneath a rock to not believe these words, our country is sick. It's diseased. It needs healing," she said. "It needs healing from within. We are so divided."
RELATED STORIES
