Jaclyn: I’m no stage mother

MANILA, Philippines - Jaclyn Jose doesn’t hide the fact that she used to be, and still is, a fan of Vilma Santos, reputedly the Star for All Seasons in these parts. In fact, for her latest film, A Secret Affair, she proudly relates that she tried to approximate the trademark acting style of her screen idol.

“For mainstream movies,” she reveals in an interview, “I want to try the acting style of Ate Vi — physical, medyo loud and quite lively.” (At any rate, as a person, actress and mother, Jaclyn reminds one of Vilma in certain ways.)

Onscreen, however, it’s her A Secret Affair co-star and off-screen daughter, Andi Eigenmann, who appears to be the epitome of the film roles of a younger Vilma — the bold and daring woman of the world who lives and fights for her beliefs, and for her man.

In the same movie, the very competent and reliable Anne Curtis plays the wronged daughter of Jaclyn, while Andi takes up the challenge as the wayward child of Jackielou Blanco. Anne and Andi’s characters are close cousins caught in the web of passion and deceit.

Both in the movies and in private, a radiant Jaclyn acts the role of a mother to the hilt. Her working hands prove it, betraying an attentive and protective mother hen to her brood. The award-winning actress is not just a hands-on parent, but a single mom at that; she who leaves nothing to chance when it comes to her children Andi or Andrea Nicole, 22 and Jake or Gwen Garimond, 11, as well as grandchild Ellie or Adriano Gabrielle, now one-year-old.

All three are surnamed Guck, after the matriarch, Jaclyn, or Mary Jane Guck in real life. Sired by three different fathers, Jaclyn’s maternal instinct goes beyond home and hearth to the threatening world outside.

“Sa akin na lang ‘yung apelyido nilang lahat,” the actress tries to justify her choice of her charges’ family name, “tutal, single naman ako at halos mag-isang inaalagaan at pinapalaki ang mga anak at apo ko. Of course, nandiyan si Andi at katuwang ko sa pag-aalaga sa apo ko. Masuwerte siya dahil nandito ako. Ibang-iba noong kabataan ko at nung baby pa si Andi.”

Jaclyn was born in 1963, in the Year of the Rabbit, the fourth animal sign in the Chinese/Oriental zodiac, and the sign that signifies grace, so to speak. (Other famous personalities — foreign and local — who are born in the Year of the Rabbit include: Fernando Poe Jr., Gloria Diaz, Pilar Pilapil, Bea Alonzo, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Drew Barrymore, Tatum O’Neal, Whitney Houston, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, David Beckham, Michael Jordan, Roger Moore, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Keaton, Neil Simon, Francis Ford Coppola, Athur Miller, Lewis Carroll, Benjamin Bratt, Zac Efron, Tiger Woods and Pope Benedict XVI.)

It is said that females born in the Year of the Rabbit have the capacity to do everything for the good of her children, natural or otherwise. And it’s simply evident in Jaclyn, and how she manages and takes care of her family. One look at her hands, and anyone can see the toil and turmoil of her home and family years, including those of parents.

Despite her hectic schedule, the actress personally attends to the needs of her children and grandchild. Not one to simply supervise and delegate duties, Jaclyn goes to the market herself, buys their groceries regularly and cooks their food.

“I don’t leave it to the househelp,” she says. “I need it to do it myself.”

Jaclyn goes to the Farmers market in Cubao, Quezon City at least twice a month, with her maid in tow, and while her driver waits for them in the car. “Mabilis akong mamili sa palengke at ako mismo ang pumipili ng mga kailangan namin. Almost every week I’m at the supermarket to buy our groceries.”

At the press conference of Viva Films’ A Secret Affair held at the Citybest Seafood Restaurant along Tomas Morato Ave. in Quezon City recently, mother and daughter arrived dressed to the nines, as appropriate movie stars for the occasion would. Both garbed in immaculate white and accented by their bright-red lips and naturally rosy cheeks, Jaclyn and Andy looked every inch the movie stars that they are, and are supposed to be, perhaps in keeping with the fabulous star appeal of Anne as well as Derek Ramsay, who also came in a spotless-white, long-sleeved shirt.

Never a stage mother, Jaclyn calmly watched her daughter during the entire proceeding, letting Andi be on her own, as the latter parried questions from the prying showbiz media. The actress-mother was confident enough that her controversial daughter could comfortably carry herself well, even if put on the spot, and which Andi really did.

Explains Jaclyn: “That’s how I raised her — independent and strong. I’m not the usual parent na mahilig mag-sermon. Di ako masyadong nakikialam. Instead of arguing, I listen. I let her make her own decisions at nakaalalay lang ako, nagmamasid, nakikinig. I trust her.

“Andi speaks her mind at para bang kaya niya lahat. Pero pag umiyak na sa akin, alam ko nang may problema. At mag-uusap na kami. That’s how I get her trust and respect — by being a mother, a friend, a confidante and a co-worker now. Ibang-iba si Andi sa bunso kong si Jake, na masyadong malambing at maaalahanin. Laging nakapulupot sa akin ‘yan at panay ang ‘I Love You, Mama.’ They really are poles apart.”

One time, when Andi was new in the business, Jaclyn was stunned to hear her daughter saying in a TV interview that as “as a child, I was used to eating breakfast alone one day, and the next day I was still eating alone…”

For Jaclyn, that hurt and the unexpected revelation on national TV broadened her mind for such an “unintended neglect.”

As a single working mother, Jaclyn offers no excuses or justification for those moments of absence in her young daughter’s growing years. “At that time, I was alone in raising Andi. Kayod ako sa trabaho at wala akong hinihindiang project. I was afraid na baka hindi ko mapalaki nang tama ang anak ko. I wanted to put her in a good school for her proper education. At gusto ko hangga’t maari, sa isang eskwelahan lang at di tulad namin noon na palipat-lipat kung saan-saan.”

From nursery to high school, Andi went to Miriam College, and she spent one year at St. Benilde for a course in fashion design. She was about to take the UP Fine Arts entrance exam when showbiz beckoned via the dual title role in Agua Bendita on ABS-CBN.

Both actresses have gifted hands and are quite good at drawing. Unbeknownst to many, Jaclyn studied interior design for about a year at the Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID) in the early ’80s before she joined showbiz, which changed her life forever.