In fact, I was, yes, shocked when Funfare’s Bohol Avenue DPA reported yesterday that the TV host has broken up with her husband and is now living by her lonesome at a condo unit, with her husband and their children (the eldest now in college) left at the family home at a Quezon City subdivision.
Now, what could have caused the break-up? Was their a third party? Did her career finally get in the way of her perceived-to-be contented family life?
"No," said the DPA, "there’s no third party. It couldn’t be her career because for years now, she has successfully and beautifully combined work and family. Her husband is so ideal, successful in his own right and in his own field, that he never felt insecure with the wife’s success. He didn’t mind being a house-husband because his kind of work is best performed at home."
When you see her on TV, the TV host is all smiles, as always, but that’s all for the benefit of the camera. Deep inside I’m sure she’s hurting. But I do hope that she and her husband would get back together again. People are like that, you know. They break up and then they make up. Well, some people.
Anyway, these past few weeks, Ryan Agoncillo has been acting out of character on TV and in interviews, starting when he was romantically linked to Judy Ann Santos whom he met and got to know well on the set of the recently-concluded ABS-CBN fantaserye Krystala (with Judy Ann in the title role).
Unlike the "old" Ryan, the "new" Ryan is acting very transparent (some people said, "acting like a lovestruck teener"), professing his love for Judy Ann on national television and in interviews, claiming that he’s ready to marry Judy Ann anytime she gives him the go-signal.
Pure gimmickry or true love?
Another Bohol Avenue Funfare DPA said that, don’t look now, Ryan is really and truly and honestly and sincerely – and hopelessly? – in love with Judy Ann.
"In fact," said the DPA, "he is ready to marry Judy Ann anytime. What I know is that Judy Ann is also really in love with him."
No, the DPA clarified, Judy Ann didn’t cause Ryan’s break-up with his non-showbiz girlfriend who has left for the States.
"Ryan has already broken up with his non-showbiz girlfriend before he started going steady with Judy Ann," added the DPA. "For a while, he and his non-showbiz girlfriend carried on a long-distance romance. Soon, Ryan got tired of it. He’s the type who wants his girlfriend around, near him, so as to inspire him in his work."
But there’s a little hitch if and when Ryan does propose marriage to Judy Ann.
"He wants a stay-at-home wife," the DPA stressed.
Oops, that would be quite a problem, indeed. Judy Ann is not about to quit showbiz and settle down as plain housewife not only because she’s her family’s bread-winner but also because she has been used to working since she was a child.
"Besides," said the DPA, "can Ryan afford to give Judy Ann the kind of life that she has been used to supposing Judy Ann agrees to stop working in the unikely event that they do get married?"
Ryan is 27 and Judy Ann is about that old.
The two have been going steady for almost one year now.
"Before," concluded the DPA, "Ryan swore that he would never, never get involved with anybody from showbiz, that’s why he stopped himself from falling for Janet McBride with whom he co-hosted the ABS-CBN mid-morning show Talk TV. (Janet is now reportedly living with Mo Twister in L.A. and has gained considerable weight, making her look like a ‘matrona.’) Pero na-in love talaga si Ryan nang husto kay Judy Ann, so..."
So?
No wonder Ryan is acting like "a fool in love," acting out of character.
Can’t blame the guy, can you?
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)