How Nicole changed Lea’s life

The greatest performance of Lea Salonga’s life right now is happening not in the hallowed walls of Carnegie Hall. It’s going on right at her own home, where she changes four-and-a-half-month Nicole Beverly’s diapers, breastfeeds her baby, checks if she’s sleeping well, etc.

Lea and husband Robert Chien’s cuddly first-born is now taking full control of her mother’s life. And Lea doesn’t mind it a bit. She even glories in it.

"Motherhood is my occupation," Lea beams. It’s not just a fleeting role like Kim in Miss Saigon. It is, in her own words, a lifetime commitment.

Now, more than ever, Lea appreciates what the distraught Kim sacrificed for her son in Miss Saigon.

"When I saw my little girl," Lea reveals, "I knew I will do anything for her."

Yes, she adds, tongue in cheek, she can even kill for her daughter, if need be.

Like all famous moms, Lea knows comparisons are inevitable if Nicole chooses a performing career someday. The pressure can be overwhelming. That’s why Lea would rather see Nicole choose a different career path and "blaze her own trail."

But then again, the genes may just get in the way. And Lea won’t be surprised to find herself rooting for her daughter backstage the way her mom Ligaya did.

When that day comes, Lea vows she will be right there beside Nicole – cheering, encouraging. As long as she loves what she’s doing, and as long as Nicole excels in her chosen field, so be it.

But let it not be said that Lea expects Nicole to live up to her mother’s stellar status as a performer.

"I don’t want Nicole to feel that she has to carry on the family’s name. I want her to do something because she loves to do it, because she’s happy at it," says Lea.

So she’s laying the groundwork this early. Lea is as hands-on as she can be, planning to carry Nicole wherever she goes – even to presscons.

Nicole was cooing in her stroller beside Lola Ligaya when Lea had a presscon for Tomorrow: A Concert for the Future on Oct. 20 and 21, 8 p.m. at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) of CCP.

It’s Lea’s first concert after giving birth, and her long-delayed homecoming to the place where she first performed professionally.

The concert also emphasizes the mom and homemaker in Lea. Songs and production numbers depict a world where children develop to the fullest and realize the dreams of a nurturing family, culture and society.

Thus, you will hear such wholesome songs as Anak, Sa Ugoy ng Duyan, You Raise Me Up, Lion King and others.

"I don’t want my daughter to see something in me that she will be ashamed of later on. I want my daughter to be proud of me. Everything I do is a reflection of them (her family)," says Lea.

Little Nicole will surely approve of her mom’s stand to help fight AIDS and do something about it someday. Yes, Lea is willing to adopt AIDS awareness as an advocacy because she has lost friends to the disease.

Besides, Lea wants people to know that "AIDS is no longer a death sentence." New advances in science have made it so.

What about breastfeeding? Won’t she choose this as an advocacy?

"Yes, I breastfeed Nicole, and I plan to do so for at least a year. But I don’t want to alienate friends who don’t breastfeed," says Lea.

Women who don’t breastfeed are not necessarily unfit mothers. And Lea knows that.

It’s just that she would rather breastfeed and run to Nicole’s side whenever she cries for her mother’s milk.

As for her upbringing, Lea and Robert have agreed to raise Nicole the Filipino way. This way, Nicole will grow up with a respect for her elders and for authority.

As Robert lightheartedly put it, "At 13, I won’t see Nicole looking like Britney Spears."

And that’s not insulting Britney, Lea hastens to add. Robert just wants a daughter who will not send shockwaves around the home when she grows up.

Husband and wife are also one in saying Nicole will study in the Philippines, even if they can afford to put her in a school abroad.

Aside from the values Philippine schools impart, Lea is proud of the fact that her education here has given her a good command of English and the knack for expressing herself well.

This is the lasting legacy Lea wants to give her Nicole. This way, Lea hopes her little girl will live up to the promise of a better tomorrow, just like the lyrics of the song says.