How will KathNiel breakup affect future love teams and showbiz projects?

It’s safe to say that most of the population that follows Filipino pop culture is still reeling from the pain of the Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla breakup. It is as if they have gone through their own heartache.

Kathryn and Daniel, also known as KathNiel, are the modern-day Sha-Gab (Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion) slash Guy and Pip (Nora Aunor and Tirso Cruz III) and even more in their own ways, so to speak.

Their more than a decade contribution to Philippine showbiz as a tandem exceeded expectations of success their network ABS-CBN has seen.

From their Must Be… Love film in 2013, Barcelona: A Love Untold in 2016, which ushered in their road to more mature roles, up until their last big project, which was ABS-CBN and Netflix’s 2 Good 2 Be True, fans were hooked and still are until the very end, when they announced that they wanted to do separate projects.

Though everyone is still trying to move on, it is good to point out Kathryn’s line in her breakup statement, “Our love story began with respect and ended with respect.”

I hope all breakups are like that. It reminded me of 2009’s coined term “conscious uncoupling” by Katherine Woodward Thomas and it was made popular in 2014 by Gwyneth Paltrow when she split with Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

Fifteen minutes after Kathryn’s statement, Daniel posted his own message also honoring what they had before they move on and heal from their separation. Even Daniel’s sisters commented on Kathryn’s post telling her they love her and showing the public that is how life is. That is the reality.

For the future love teams on their way to greater heights such as Donny Pangilinan and Belle Mariano’s DonBelle and Francine Diaz and Seth Fedelin’s FranSeth, the KathNiel story serves them so much lessons.

Let us add Barbie Forteza and David Licauco, who are purely colleagues with an amazing chemistry on screen, as proven by the BarDa fans club. But honestly this early on, it looks like DonBelle and FranSeth are also not really having an off-cam more than on-screen partners relationship at the moment, proving that it is possible to have strong connections on camera and it stays there.

Of course, KathNiel’s off-cam real-life relationship added so much to their overall success as a love team and what they had was beautiful but the newer ones are proving at the moment that it is possible to refrain from a possible future heartache and go on with projects as an amazing team delivering the best possible chemistry for a certain project.

Even though Filipinos’ love for shipping certain stars together remains strong, after the KathNiel breakup, it is also possible to see more stars not just being stuck with one partner, and that is a good thing for the industry.

The story of a certain project won’t be tailored-fit for a certain duo but the essence of the project will be given to the talent who deserves it the most. It gives more actors the deserving spotlight for their talents to land main roles. Stories that the public would give time to would not always revolve around two characters and can also help writers be more free and creative to create content that has not been seen or heard before.

Though most people would wish in an ideal world that KathNiel goes on forever, let us look at the effect it could have in Philippine showbiz and management decisions, and “ride with the tide” for the best showbiz turnout.