Tom Rodriguez: He’s into boxing & cooking & thinks it’s manly to want to look beautiful

“There’s nothing wrong with being gay,” Tom Rodriguez said on the penultimate week of GMA-7’s hit TV series My Husband’s Lover. When asked point-blank if he was straight or gay, he said, “I’m straight.”

Tom, the Waray who grew up in Arizona, stands almost six feet tall and turns heads wherever he goes. People on the street now recognize him as Vincent, the closeted gay man in the top-rating GMA-7 soap opera My Husband’s Lover. 

He revealed that if the censors allow it, he will be in a never-before-done scene on local television this week with co-star Dennis Trillo.

Today, with the success of his role as Vincent in GMA’s My Husband’s Lover, Tom goes to Dr. Vicki Belo to maintain his good looks, saying, “Taking good care of yourself is an important part of being a man. It doesn’t make you any less tough.”

 And when asked about how he is different from other male endorsers, Tom said, “I’m lucky to be representing both sides of the male spectrum — the Toms, and also the Vincents.”

Then he added, “People will understand, people will accept you — if you accept yourself first.” Tom confessed that playing the role of a gay man made him see and understand men with different sexual orientations, thus making him a firm believer that all men are men, regardless of their preference. “It is important to know who you really are, what you want, and freely express it.”

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Men are spending hard-earned money to look good from head to toe, whether they’re “straight,” “gay,” or somewhere in between.

“Over the past years, there has been an increase in the number of male patients who are paying attention to their looks,” Dr. Vicki Belo, known as the “doctor to the stars,” said after she introduced Tom to media as the newest endorser of the Belo Medical Group. “Our records reflect the same trend.”

According to Vicki, the top procedures that men undergo worldwide are: Liposuction, Rhinoplasty or more commonly known as a nose job, and Blepharoplasty or eyelid surgery (she revealed that actor Christopher de Leon has had this). The most popular non-surgical procedure among men, on the other hand, is injections of Botulinum Toxin Type A (including Botox and Dysport). She revealed world-class bowler Paeng Nepomuceno has had Botox.

In a lunch yesterday she hosted at her beautiful home in Makati, during which she introduced Tom as Belo Medical Group’s latest endorser, Vicki said, “Men who go to Belo are secure and know exactly what they want. They fulfill many roles in life — at work, at home — and still find time to take good care of themselves.”

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Tom, who sketches and paints (three of his paintings, two of them nudes, were raffled off during the lunch), also likes singing and can actually sing for his lunch. (He sang two songs at Vicki’s lunch.) This multi-talented heartthrob is into boxing and — cooking! He holds a degree in Digital Animation and only got interested in acting when he joined a workshop a few years back that made him appreciate and understand the craft in a new light.

Tom recalls that his journey to the top wasn’t always easy. He  was about to enter the military when a relative suggested he try it out in Philippine showbiz. There were days when projects were slow in coming, and he learned to make do of and be thankful for the little he had.

Now he has to find time for himself — and he makes sure he does. Tom’s go-to treatment at Belo for his face is SkinMaster. This procedure helps exfoliate dead skin cells, excess oil and residue from the pores to get a glowing skin. This also helps lessen dark circles under the eyes. He also loves Acupuncture Rejuvenation Therapy, the only firming and lifting procedure that improves muscle tone and prevents muscle laxity or sagging. Tom also visits Belo for Jet Peel, which penetrates and rejuvenates your skin by infusing oxygen and different vitamins and minerals into the deep dermis to recharge and revitalize cells, improving skin texture, tone and color. He also tried Sculptor Plus for the face, which effectively tightens skin and firms the muscles, resulting in a more defined facial contour. For his body, Tom’s favorite is Belo Fat Freeze — the coolest nonsurgical procedure that freezes and eliminates stubborn fat with noticeable results in as little as one treatment.

According to Vicki, what makes Tom an ideal endorser for Belo is that: “He is confident and certain of who he is, and he’s not afraid to do things for fear of being misunderstood. Truly, Tom perfectly embodies the type of men who go to Belo.”

In closing I asked Vicki to define a real man. “A real man is one who makes me feel cherished and special.”

And Cristalle (Belo Henares)? “A real man is a gentleman, the type who will even open your bottled water for you.”

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