An unlikely love story

Curtain-raisers:

• This actor doesn’t make any attempt to play down the fact that he got the daughter of a popular (read: well-loved) couple pregnant. He brings her to the set and confirms to anybody who asks that she’s giving birth soon. The girl’s father is fuming, but the actor’s ex-actress-wife (and mother of his child) said she’s happy for them, maybe because she herself has found a new love in the person of a handsome foreigner.
• Could it be true that a celebrity couple (both from rich, influential families) is separated but continues to live under one roof but sleeping in separate beds? Not an uncommon set-up among popular couples who try to put up a happy front. Remember couple in the same set-up? The actress-wife was advised by her singer-actress mom never to leave home, no matter what. It’s called laissez faire (you know, live and let live…love and let love). Another celebrity couple enjoys the same set-up. The wife (a society matron) reminded her neighbor (a singer-actress married to a wealthy businessman) that if ever (knock on wood!) her marriage hits the rocks, she should do the same…for the sake of the children.
• But Funfare sources swear that a TV host and her politician-husband have not split up despite the persistent rumor that they have, only because she maintains a condo unit of her own at an elite place. Yes, she and her husband happily still share their conjugal home although she prefers to entertain her guests at her condo as respect for her husband’s privacy. Nice set-up, isn’t it? Only if you can afford it.

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It was her long hair that got him.

“My friend and I were attending a party at the Embassy Club when she noticed that a good-looking guy from a nearby table was looking in our direction,” recalled Imabelle Sidic. “I thought he was looking at somebody behind us but when I looked, there was nobody there. He was smiling. My friend told me, ‘Why don’t you smile back? He has been smiling at you forever!’ Sa isip ko, ‘Ay, guapo! Ira-raket ko ‘ito; ibi-build-up ko.’ I was in ABS-CBN then I was handling talents on the side. He was with friends, one of them Lance Raymundo.”

A native of Calbayog City (Western Samar), Imabelle, 35, is an AB CommArts graduate from UST who initially worked as production assistant in TV shows (one of them the former The Buzz where I met her) before she put up iNFINITE SHAPES & KNOTS (iSK), a talent agency, moonlighting as event/radio host and college lecturer.

A native of North Dakota, USA, the guy is Travis Kraft, 35, a model, host, YouTube star, three-time US state wrestling champion, public speaker, director/producer and actor (last seen in Ang Turkey Man Ay Pabo Rin, a recently shown indie directed by Ronald Allan Habon and also starring Tuesday Vargas, Julia Clarete, JM de Guzman and Cai Cortez).

When they got to know each other better, Travis told Imabelle that it was love at first sight for him and that it was her long hair that first got his attention.

“I didn’t have any illusion,” admitted Imabelle. “He’s so good-looking and all. I just wanted to book him for commercials and shows.”

But things turned out differently. He fell in love with her.

“Ours is an unlikely romance,” said Imabelle. “It was unexpected. I never imagined a good-looking guy would fall for me.”

Asked what he likes about Imabelle, Travis said, “A lot of people said that I’m a strong guy but I realized that Imabelle is stronger than me. When things go wrong, she has a way of keeping my spirits up. What caught my attention when we first met (at Embassy) was her cute look and her sweet smile. And yes, her long black hair.”

They met in 2006 but they kept their relationship a secret, although not from close friends.

“I didn’t want our relationship to affect his chance,” explained Imabelle, “kasi if girls learned that he’s spoken for, baka ma-turn-off sila. Before long, we decided to live together.”

Travis has been going to the US and back, guesting in local TV shows and even hosting his own cooking show, until he decided to stay longer last year to shoot his indie starrer. He has easily adapted to the Filipino lifestyle and feels so at home in Calbayog City where he’s well-loved by Imabelle’s family and friends. He has even learned to love Imabelle’s 11-year-old love child, treating him as his own.

“I never hid it from him,” said Imabelle, “or to anybody who was courting me.”

Imabelle and Travis got married in civil rites last week in Borongan City, Eastern Samar, with her fellow Waray Boy Abunda, former Sen. Freddie Webb, ABS-CBN exec Roxy Liquigan, Calbayog City Mayor Ronald Aquino and your Funfarer among the principal sponsors.

Travis will file for a spouse visa for Imabelle. They plan to start a new life in the US.

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