Camille wants second shot at marriage

MANILA, Philippines - Camille Prats doesn’t play coy on the question of marrying again.

“I would want to, I’m not getting any younger. Of course, I would want a second chance at love and if God willingly gives me so, I’ll be happy,” the Kapuso star told The STAR on the sidelines of an event for GMA Network’s Regional TV.

The 28-year-old actress  didn’t expect she’d find love again after losing her late husband Anthony Linsangan to cancer in 2011. At that time, the young widow was a picture of inconsolable heartbreak, trying to make sense of the passing of her life partner and father of her then three-year-old son Nathan.

“I actually prayed for it, I was also talking to my late husband. I told him, if ever, you still want me to find someone or to be with someone, or kung gusto mo may kasama para sa amin ni Nathan, lead us to him,” she shared.

Camille is now happily in a relationship with her childhood friend and gradeschool classmate John Yambao, whom she had lost touch with for two decades as he has been based in the States. During one of his visits to the country in December 2012, she chanced upon him in their neighborhood. They reconnected as friends first. December of last year was when she first made public her newfound love. 

How did she know she was ready for a new special someone in her life? “You know what, I just felt it. Whenever I talk to him, I feel better. Tapos, masarap sa pakiramdam. Of course, to be honest, I wouldn’t say that he was the only person who was trying to get my attention, of course not. But with others, I didn’t feel that certain joy that I felt when I started talking to him.

“With the others, normal lang, parang andun pa rin ako sa state kung nasaan ako noon. But with him, there’s a different change of joy — that there’s this new kind of happiness that I felt and that it’s something I look forward to whenever I wake up. That’s why I thought, ‘I’ll try to give this the chance and if it works, then okay, if not, it’s still okay because I’m happy where I am,’” she added.

It has been worth the chance as Camille said, “So far, with regards to love life, I’m happy and contented. I’m peaceful and I’m inspired. He also helps me do what I love to do. He’s very supportive. So, pareho naman kami na I think we would want to take the same road, pareho naman kaming gustong mapuntahan in the future, so we’ll see where it will take us.”

If it winds up at the altar, one thing is for sure, her brother John Prats and girlfriend Isabel Oli (who are also hounded by marriage-related questions) will go ahead first, Camille mused.

Interestingly, like her late husband, her current beau is not remotely connected to showbiz. But she’s never really been attracted to someone who’s also in the spotlight. “Actually it’s not (a conscious thing) it’s just who I am. Maybe, I’m just attracted to that (non-showbiz).”

In the same way, Camille, who practically grew up in showbiz, wants for herself a normal family life and household. “It’s always what I want. A normal household. I want to be able to do things that a housewife would do, yun yung mga pangarap ko talaga. I want to be just like my mom. She’s such a wonderful homemaker. I wanna be just like her. Maybe I saw that in her, and I also want that for myself.”

Meanwhile, the former child star reflected on her being the lead star of the afternoon series The Borrowed Wife, which is taking a bow from the Afternoon Prime block today. “It’s actually the first time in years that I’ve been given a title role, and then, honestly, I think it also came with losing a lot of weight. Because if you’re on TV, you have to look good, you have to look pleasing at least to the audiences. When I started losing weight I was offered this role, so ganun pala ang sikreto, so dapat matagal na akong nagpapayat! Hahaha! But seriously speaking, siguro it’s that, and maybe because I really, really love my job and I always, always try to be professional so maybe they saw I’m worth the shot of being in the lead role.”

Aside from acting, she’s also enjoying her job as a host (with Suzie Entrata) of the afternoon talk show Mars on GMA News TV 11. “I never really thought I’d ever be hosting. When they offered me the job, I really thought it was a joke. Up until they asked me to do the workshop and told me to start taping did I realize they were really serious. I gladly took it! I was very nervous the first time but working with Ate Suzie makes me feel it’s such an easy thing to do.

“Honestly, I would say it’s a blessing. It’s a blessing because I work with a network that continually trusts me and my craft,” she said.

But Camille also admitted that showbiz is not everything to her. â€œPara sa akin ang showbiz, kung may offer, I’ll take it. If not, I’m fine because I have a school; I have other things to do din. Maybe yun din maganda dun because I have a fallback,” said Camille, who serves as the school directress of the family-owned Divine Angels Montessori in Cainta, Rizal.

“But (acting) is always something that I’ve wanted to do, a dream, and I’ve been in this industry for more than 20 years, and at this point, I would say, I’m in a good position in the industry so I’m very blessed but it comes with hard work, patience and good working attitude.”