Why Sophia made her mom Ai-Ai cry

MANILA, Philippines - Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside.

That aptly describes Ai-Ai delas Alas who appears to the world as if all she does is make people laugh and seldom cries. But she does…cry, that is.

On April 15, her daughter Sophia will turn 18 but she’s celebrating her debut on April 19 due to Ai-Ai’s busy shoot for Dyesebel (airing on ABS-CBN starting next Monday, March 17) that allows only a week off for Ai-Ai who leaves for L.A. April 17.

More than Sophia’s debut and her straight A’s grades (she’s graduating from high school), it was Sophia’s text message that touched a soft spot in her mom.

“Ma, normal ba ang maging emotional kapag kumakanta ng banal na songs?,” Sophia who, with her brother Nicolo (soon to join the US Navy), is staying with their dad Miguel Vera, asked Ai-Ai. “Palagi akong napapaiyak at gusto ko palagi mag-attend ng mga (spiritually-uplifting events). Thank you, Ma, na pinalaki mo kami ng ganoon.” Meaning, God-fearing.

Ai-Ai (who, unknown to many people, wanted to be a nun before she joined showbiz) said, “People think that my children are like any typical showbiz children. They are not. Napaiyak ako kasi maganda pala ang pagpapalaki ko sa mga anak ko,” she told Funfare.

Speaking of Dyesebel in which she plays foster mom to the half-woman/half-fish girl (played by Anne Curtis), Ai-Ai has to take a crash course in swimming, made more challenging by the fact that she has to has to wear a heavy rubber tail.

Her private life is on a light flow, though. April 3 would have been the first anniversary of her short (lasting no longer than 29 days) marriage to Jed Salang from whom she is officially divorced (they were married in Las Vegas, but Ai-Ai said she has deleted that painful experience from her life).

“May phobia na ako sa marriage,” admitted Ai-Ai, adding with a laugh, “pero sa lalaki wala, hahahaha!”