Getting there or already there?

There’s much ado about whether or not Dr. Vicki Belo and Dr. Hayden Kho (aptly described as her boytoy) have gotten married or are getting married. Are they getting there or are they already there?

It all started when Yolanda Hadid, the girlfriend of David Foster, casually mentioned when they were here last year for Foster’s Big Dome concert (with, among others, Charice and Natalie Cole) that their friends Vicki and Hayden were getting married.

Other people close to the May-December couple (said to be together more for “mutual necessity” than true love) insist that the persistent rumor is just that — rumor. According to one such rumor, the “sweethearts” got married in Las Vegas last year. “But they were never in Las Vegas,” said somebody close to them.

Dr. Vicki Belo (fourth from right) during a visit to the house of David Foster and his girlfriend Yolanda Hadid (center) last year. Also with the group were Jojie Dingcong (third from right) and his talents Derek Ramsay (rightmost) and Matteo Guidicelli (third from left), and Vicki’s daughter Cristalle Henares. Vicki’s boyfriend Dr. Hayden Kho was not around because, according to a Funfare DPA, ‘when Cristalle is present, Hayden is absent; the daughter doesn’t like her hilaw na stepfather’ who is almost her age.

In fact, the Startalk staff checked the marriage registry in Las Vegas and no Belo-Kho marriage is recorded.

If the “mother figure” and the “boytoy” do get married, it might be because the duktora is allegedly feeling “guilty” of doing “something” out of wedlock, that she’s bothered by her conscience — “But not vice-versa,” the Funfare DPA added.

Millie Gurfinkel, wife of immigration lawyer and STAR columnist Michael Gurfinkel, was with Vicki at a dinner-party the other night. “Mukhang hindi totoo ‘yung tsismis,” said Millie. “Otherwise, Vicki would have told me.” Correct. The duktora couldn’t and shouldn’t keep any secret from Millie and Michael because it’s the Gurfinkels who come to her (the duktora) rescue everytime she gets into trouble with the US Immigration.

A legal expert had a piece of unsolicited advice for the duktora (not that it’s his business, really).

“She should insist on having a pre-nuptial agreement,” said the lawyer. “Otherwise, she might end up in a much bigger trouble than she was in when Kho was charged (eventually acquitted) for video-taping his sex exercises with his poor victims.”

Dr. Kho is lucky that he was found “not guilty” as charged and he’s scot-free, basking in TV spotlight. In Indonesia, they deal with sex offenders quite harshly. An Indonesian pop star is now languishing in jail. 

Why Anton Alvarez is ‘100% heart’

Is new singer Anton Alvarez, a discovery of Millie Gurfinkel, the “missing son” of Julio Iglesias?

Asked about it when he met select members of the press at lunch yesterday in Dulcinea, Anton reacted with a pleasant surprise.

Anton Alvarez: He can win hearts with his soulful voice

“Who said so?” he asked, baffled.

It turned out to be a big joke, spawned by the fact that Anton is a Julio Iglesias look-alike. Their similarities don’t end there. Besides a good singer like Iglesias, Anton is half-Spanish (paternal side) and half-Filipino (maternal side). Iglesias also has a “Filipino connection” because his first wife, Isabel Preysler, is half-Spanish and half-Filipina. The ex-couple has two sons, Julio Jr. and Enrique, both singers; while Julio has five children with his current wife.

Millie hosted the lunch for Anton to drum up for his album, 100% Heart (with the “a” highlighted, released by Viva Records). Co-produced with US record man Christian de Walden. During the presscon, Anton sang three selections from the album, one of the cover of Words (the BeeGees hit), and I would say that, despite his belated start in the business, he will go far especially if he would concentrate on doing covers (maybe hits of Tony Bennett, Andy Williams and other balladeers) because of his soothing voice na pang-harana. It was Anton himself who wrote half of the 12 tracks on the album.

The cover of Anton’s album, released by Viva Records

Anton was born here and he spent his early years in Singalong, Manila. The Alvarezes migrated to the US when Anton was four years old. Last year, Millie and Michael accompanied Anton to a meeting with the ABS-CBN execs to finalize a deal for him to sing the theme song of Rubi, the soap starring Angelica Panganiban and Diether Ocampo.

“I am a Filipino through and through,” said the 5’11” Anton who speaks fluent Tagalog.

Actually, his main occupation is managing his own business which has offices in Europe. He’s separated from his wife with whom he has three children, all of whom also sing.

Why did he call his album 100% Heart?

“Because most of the songs chronicle my emotional journey in life,” said Anton.

One of the songs is a remake of Wish, a duet with Sarah Geronimo, the same song Donna Cruz has recorded with Jason Everly several years ago.

Did he give any piece of advice to Sarah where affairs of the heart are concerned?

Yes, smiled Anton.

“I told her, ‘Please be careful with your heart’.”

* * *

Magdamag showing in Zamboanga

Rita Avila as a middle-aged college instructor and Edgar Allan Guzman as a fire dancer in a scene from Magdamag (The Tryst), an ‘erotically-charged examination of power relationships, gender, faith and the nature of love.’ Magdamag bagged second prize in the 2010 Palanca Literary Awards and was one of the critically-acclaimed entries in the 2010 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. Released through Sony Philippines, it is now showing at the New Viva Cinerama in Zamboanga City, owned and managed by Vic Alvarez.

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