Carmina and the ‘anorexic’ issue

Until now, despite her repeated denials (risking sounding like, ho-hum, a broken record), Carmina Villarroel can’t seem to convince people that, no, she’s not suffering from anorexia. She looks so suspiciously thin, doesn’t she?

"How come?" asked Carmina for the nth time, "Force of habit, I guess."

According to Carmina, she used to go to the gym regularly, doing kickboxing, Pilates and Taebo. She ate neither pork nor beef and shunned soft drinks. Her intake of carbo was very minimal. And then last year, Carmina became unusually busy, shuttling between two ABS-CBN shows, Morning Girls and the soap Recuerdo de Amor so she stopped working out due to time constraints.

"In short," said Carmina, "I was overworked and I hardly even have time to rest. Instead of eating, everytime I had free time I’d sleep. Tapings for Recuerdo were on Mondays, lasting until early Tuesday morning, and I’d go ‘live’ for Morning Girls most of the time. Not that I starved myself, but if I got, say, a 30-minute break during the tapings, I’d sleep rather than eat. I guess my body got used to not having too much food."

That explains her present condition.

"Basta," said Carmina, "I’m not anorexic."

Her schedule is more manageable now. She tapes for GMA 7’s Nuts Entertainment once a week and for the new soap, Narito ang Puso Ko, which will premiere on June 9.

"I can spend more time with my family (husband Zoren Legaspi and their twin children Cassy and Mavy)," added Carmina.

But still, if she could, she should gain a few pounds. She’d look better with a little more flesh, wouldn’t she?

No, they’re not intimate

Some people suspect that just because Donita Rose and Eric Villarama, who are getting married in California on June 9, are both based in Singapore, they are already living-in. No, they’re not.

"Other people might even suspect that I’m pregnant because I’m getting married," laughed Donita during a recent interview. "No, I’m not."

How can they be "intimate" when, according to Donita, they don’t even kiss?

Here’s Donita’s exact words in an interview with Funfare:

"As I’ve said, I’m already a Christian and I’ll wait until we get married before we kiss. Besides, I don’t believe in pre-marital sex; neither does Eric. Ever since I renewed my faith with the Lord, I made a vow that I would wait until I got married before I’d have sex with anyone."

So that should put to rest rumors that she and Eric have been living-in in Singapore (where Eric also works as a senior art director for an advertising agency called Formul8).

"Eric stays in his own pad and I stay in mine at the Birmingham Mansion where five other guys from my church are staying. Eric and I are both busy so that we can meet only at around 7:30 or 8 in the evening and that’s when we prepared for our wedding. There have been times when we’d finish at 3 or 4 a.m. and since we had to go to the gym at 7:30, Eric would sleep in my pad. But he never slept with me; he slept in the sala. Eric and I are accountable to our church.

"Our pastors were telling us that even if Eric and I were not doing anything, it wasn’t nice for him to be sleeping in my pad because people would think that we are living together. So Eric stopped sleeping in my pad."

As you must have known by now, Donita asked for a sign before she said yes to Eric’s marriage proposal.

"He asked the permission of people close to me before he finally asked me," said Donita. "He first talked to my mother, to Tita Angeli (Pangilinan, Donita’s manager) and my other relatives. That was the sign I was praying for – for the guy to get the consent of people I love before proposing to me."

After their wedding, Donita will have to minimize her hosting chores on MTV Asia with which she has been connected for many years now.

"I’d be doing special projects for them," said Donita who, with Eric, plans to put up a business in Singapore.

How soon do they plan to have a baby?

"Much, much later. Eric and I want to enjoy each other’s company first, starting with our honeymoon in Hawaii."

Banig now a seasoned performer

Have you ever wondered whatever happened to Josephine "Banig" Roberto, the Filipino singer who won in a talent search in California and who guested on the defunct Arsenio Hall Show?

Here’s an update on Banig from Funfare reader Louie Gonzales of San Diego, California:

Last Saturday, May 24, Banig Roberto did a concert here in San Diego. The Banig I saw many years ago when she used to tag along in every Gary Valenciano concert, is now a very seasoned performer. The show we watched last Saturday was worth every cent. She was so full of energy, the concert lasted more than three hours. I haven’t heard a voice so smooth with a range so high.

The repertoire varied from pop, jazz, blues and hiphop and every number was matched with Banig’s truly amazing style that, in my opinion, could even surpass the likes of the so-called divas in the US. I hope that next time she does a concert here in the US, the promoters should be aggressive enough in doing their part to give Banig the exposure our Filipino talents need in this still race-conscious audience.

It was just superb. Attendance was about 70 percent, partly maybe because she’s not that known yet to the Americans and the promotions were not that aggressive enough. But there were notables among the crowd. One was the father of Michael Jackson who would come to town to just watch Banig in her every concert. She said they were good friends.

The concert was held at the legendary Spreckels Theater in San Diego which has been the venue of concerts by other Filipino artists, including Jose Mari Chan (last March 31), Basil Valdez and Lani Misalucha (March 30), Anthony Castelo (sometime in June), and Jaya and Janno Gibbs (very soon).

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