‘Avengers’ Actor Dave Bautista Says He’s ‘Struggling Through Some Heartbreak’

Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautsta said he is still “struggling through some heartbreak,” but his spirits have been lifted by Chloe Coleman, his young My Spy co-star.

On Tuesday, Bautista shared a photo with Coleman taken before STX Films’ presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

“I love this amazing little lady more than I can express in words,” the pro wrestler wrote. “Struggling through some heart break but this beautiful little soul reminds me about everything that’s good in life. Thank you for being you [Coleman]…. I couldn’t love you more if you were my own child.”

Bautista, 50, recently opened up about losing one of his dogs to cancer, which explained why he did not immediately celebrate when Disney reinstated James Gunn as the director of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3.

“On the day that it was announced, it was the same day that I lost one of my dogs to cancer. We finally had to say goodbye to her and it just, I was just so crushed. I still am. This was just a week ago and I was so crushed,” Bautista told the Los Angeles Times last month. “I haven’t really been back on my social media because, even though it’s like a big deal to me, I just don’t feel like celebrating anything. I’m just not in that mood.”

Bautista, who shares two children with his first wife, continued, “Like my dogs are like my children, and my baby girl, she fought cancer for two years. And we lost her. And that’s why I didn’t have a public celebration. But if you know how hard I fought for him, that is how much him being back means to me. And you can imagine. It’s a huge statement.”

The Blade Runner 2049 actor left the WWE a second time in 2014, but returned again and will fight HHH at WrestleMania 35 on Sunday. He started acting in 2006 and is best known for playing Drax the Destroyer in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Engame. He signed on to star in Dune and will next be seen in the action-comedy My Spy before the end of the year.

On Friday, Deadline reported that Bautista signed on to star in Netflix’s Army of the Dead, a $70 million zombie heist movie to be directed by Man of Steel‘s Zack Snyder. The film is set during a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, where a group of mercenaries try to pull off a heist in the quarantined zone.

Bautista also stars in Stuber, a former Fox movie that Disney will release on July 12. The film stars Kumail Nanjiani as an Uber driver who picks up a detective chasing a terrorist.

Avengers: Endgame opens on April 26.

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