In praise of Mommy Lydia

Jennylyn Mercado had been hogging showbiz headlines for more than a month now  starting with her breakup with Dennis Trillo and the tell-all Yes Magazine interview that spawned even more issues.

There was the matter of the supposed violent split with Trillo and to his credit he chose to remain mum about the controversy. Then, she discussed her being a battered child and her biological mother (a certain Jinkee based abroad) was not exactly delighted with the fact that her name and reputation are currently being talked about.

I will try not to give my opinion and muddle the issue any further. It’s best to allow biological mother and daughter to sort out their differences between them preferably in private.

To begin with, I absolutely have no idea where I stand with Jennylyn  never did.

The members of the original StarStruck batch where Jennylyn belonged (she was the first winner in the female division) will always have a special place in my heart. We were already together even during their pre-selection (before they were narrowed down to 14).

But while I had the chance to bond with Mark Herras and Yasmien Kurdi during Flawless provincial events, I never got to have a conversation with Jennylyn away from camera range.

There was even a time I found her strange  like she lived in a world of her own. At times, she would be on standby ready for a sit-down interview or a performance and the next thing we knew, she had gone.

But when I discovered that she had been a battered child, I became more understanding of her behavior. I developed more sympathy for her and she started having a soft spot in my heart.

Of course, I’m not sure if she was ever mad at me for her not winning Best Actress for Rosario in last year’s Metro Manila Filmfest. Through Dennis, I tried to send to her the message that I was just one vote. But that is water under the bridge.

I received tremendous beatings and was called vicious names. I was just happy and relieved not to have heard any nasty remark from Jennylyn personally. That would have hurt me. As I write this, my heart still brims with fondness for her. 

However, I am even fonder of her adoptive mother, Lydia. I knew her from the time Jennylyn won in StarStruck.

Mommy Lydia never threw her weight around. Although she was always with Jennylyn, she was never the typical stage mother. She’d simply sit in the audience area unobtrusively. I would walk over to where she was and pay my salutations, dabble in small talk and she was always very nice and pleasant.

 I don’t mean to put down Jennylyn’s biological mother (we have yet to know her real circumstances), but allow me to pay tribute to Mommy Lydia. I take my hat off to her for providing what obviously was a better environment for Jennylyn  away from the stepfather who physically abused her.

Mommy Lydia obviously tried to give Jennylyn a normal life. But since they were not wealthy (a fact she never hid), she allowed Jennylyn to enter show business. In fact, weren’t there talks that Jennylyn already had a career as a singer in lowbrow establishments prior to her joining StarStruck? But never did we hear that the young woman was ever for sale  you know what I mean.

Mommy Lydia could have easily pushed Jennylyn to prostitution like we see in the movies that are the reflection of real-life situations. But clearly, she was there to guide Jennylyn in her young life. But when the singer-actress became an adult, Mommy Lydia obviously gave her the freedom.

And now, Jennylyn is a mother herself  with the responsibility of raising her own child.

However, Mommy Lydia had already done her part. She did it well.

I salute her for being a real mother to Jennylyn  for raising her to adulthood.

But I praise her even more for exhibiting the most wonderful trait a person can ever possess on this earth: Caring and sacrificing for the welfare of another human being.