Tamera Mowry tears up talking about niece killed in California bar shooting

Weeks after losing her niece during the California bar massacre, Tamera Mowry had a teary return to “The Real” on Monday.

Mowry confirmed on Nov. 8 that Alaina Housley, 18, was killed at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, when a gunman opened fire, leaving 12 people dead.

“Our family’s been through a lot. But the interesting thing about grief is that you’ve got to find the balance of moving forward and grieving at the same time,” Mowry, 40, told her co-hosts as her eyes welled up.

She added, “It’s just been a little over two weeks. She would want me to be here and she would want me, sweet Alaina, to move forward. I don’t like to say move on, because I don’t think I’ll ever move on with the fact that she’s not here with me or with our family.”

Mowry then decided to use the opportunity to speak out against gun violence.

“[Housley] would want me to move forward and to use her voice as a catalyst for change, and that’s why I’m here today.”

She continued, “We need change when it comes to gun violence. And I don’t care if I have to knock on the doors of the White House to do it, to advocate change.”

The actress explained that America needs to heal.

“Our country — it’s sad to say this, but you have to be living underneath a rock to not believe these words — our country is sick,” she said. “It’s diseased. It needs healing. It needs healing from within. We’re so divided. We should never have to fight for the safety of our children. We should never have to fight for that. That should just happen out of your heart, out of human decency. And I feel that if we talk to our representatives and talk from that place, just maybe, maybe we will be able to move forward.”

Housley was laid to rest earlier this month.