Why Michael is quitting showbiz

There were mixed reactions to the news that Michael de Mesa, undoubtedly one of the country’s best actors, was bent on leaving the country to pursue a new life in the US. Some said he was crazy and acting on impulse. Most were sad that he was giving up the battle, and that the country would once again be one less brilliant artist among its inhabitants.

Michael’s decision was nothing new. A good many artists in the performing field especially have taken their families, uprooted themselves and now live abroad. Jim Paredes, Joey Albert, Dessa, Mon David, Lani Misalucha, Arnel Pineda. But somehow, no one expected Michael to be one of them. Perhaps because his personality was that of one who was easy going, who rolled with the punches, who had no plan for his life and simply took what was there for the moment.

That’s it, agrees Michael. But now, apparently everything has changed. The Mike we knew for many decades when he was just beginning, during the years we managed him, through the drug experimentation years, the tumultuous marriage with Gina Alajar, to today’s father, and a new partner in life, has indeed changed. And as he talks of himself today, we feel that the change has been for the better.

As the son of Eddie Mesa and Rosemarie Gil, brother to Mark Gil and Cherie Gil, and later husband to Gina, Mike has not known any other life than show business. From childhood, he grew up among co-actors and directors of his parents, and didn’t really think there would be any other life for him and his siblings than show business. This is either good or bad, depending on one’s appraisal of the situation. Good, because obviously the genes and the environment have conspired to make these siblings among the country’s best actors. Bad, because in a way, they never had the option to be anything else.

And Michael was good, often brilliant as many will agree. Whether on the big screen in Unfaithful Wife, Dubai, Paradise Inn, the indie Big Time, the action picture Ikasa Mo Ipuputok ko, Hihintayin Kita sa Langit, Ano ang Kulay ng Mukha ng Diyos. Or on the legitimate stage as in Rent, and the most recent Hairspray.    

As Michael opens up his heart to us, we see that for the first time, there are many other firsts which are all good. The decision to leave was nothing sudden and unplanned. It had been in the air for at least a year now until the need to renew the greencard by the end of February this year has forced Michael’s hand at it. Apparently, when in California July of 2008 to renew his greencard then, Mike met up with the Lynch family who owned the ambulance service company he performed for at their 20th anniversary celebration in 2006. Even as far back as then, they immediately saw the potential of having a celebrity in the company that deals with hospitals, nurses, doctors many of whom are Filipinos. Michael was offered to do marketing, which he tried out for two months last July.

“I enjoyed it. For the first time I was doing something regular, a 9 to 5 job with a regular income and I really liked it,” he says. He adds that he would be earning annually only a little bit more than what he earns from show business in a year, but it would be regular, and stable, and less frustrating. 

Possibly, the key word to comparisons between the old world Michael was leaving and the new world is the word “frustrating.” While he admits that he has been reared in the completely unstructured world of Philippine entertainment, the frustration was just getting worse and worse.

Ostensibly, in early 2008 Michael started working on two projects for ABS-CBN — The Nurse with Judy Ann Santos, and The Wedding with Anne Curtis and Zanjoe Marudo, with Eula Valdes who plays his wife. Taping has been stop-and-go, mostly for reasons of scheduling and now that Michael has announced that he has to leave February this year he has been written off The Nurse while The Wedding has yet to resume taping.

“While waiting for those two shows, I couldn’t do anything. I lost three shows in GMA because ABS didn’t wanna let me go. Kaya medyo masama ang loob ko. That’s also one of the reasons why I decided to leave,” he concedes pointing out to frustration as one of the biggest factors.

Michael continues, “I also want to test myself, challenge myself as a person how far and how much I can gain, not as an actor but me as a person doing something else. I’ve never done anything else but show business. It’s something now completely different and exciting. I am excited. It’s only now in my life that I have a five-year plan. I’ve never had a five-year plan. (You’ve never had a plan, we interrupt, hahaha!!) Ya, you know me. I used to live from day to day. Bahala na tomorrow. Bahala na what‘s in store for the future? Pero ngayon, I have a five-year plan. “

“I’m not saying that Michael de Mesa is dead. But he is not my priority now. My priority is Michael Eigenmann. So kung baga, there is now an awakening in my life, like am I really who I am? I’m taking the reins. I also have plans of coming back in 2010 to do two plays. I’m ready for a new phase in my life, a new chapter. “

Michael is also beginning to talk of marriage with Julie, his partner for the past eight years, longer than his seven-year marriage to Gina. It was when he and Gina separated that he met Julie, then a dancer with the Hot Legs. A lot of people still think Julie was the cause of the separation which Michael refutes. Once they marry, it will be a second marriage for both, their first having been annulled. Julie has a 15-year-old daughter who is an American citizen having been born in the States.

He describes his relationship with Julie as quiet and peaceful. He calls her his Superwoman since apart from dancing, she writes, designs and sells clothes on-line, does interior design and makeup, cooks, gardens, does carpentry. They set up a pet accessories shop at Tiendesitas which Julie now runs on-line. She will be shuttling between Manila and California until they have more definite plans.

Skeptics are prone to view Michael’s pronouncements with a let’s-wait-and-see attitude. They don’t think he will leave his comfort zone for long. This is also the reason some tag him as crazy. “Mas sira ulo nila na naghihintay sa wala. Ako, I’m doing something with my life. Kung baga I’ve reached a point in my life na sa sobrang frustration ko, ayokong umasa.”

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