Jake Cuenca opens up on 3-year sobriety

MANILA, Philippines — Jake Cuenca said that giving up alcohol has been the “best decision in my life.”

“I don’t drink anymore — for three years now,” Jake recently revealed during an intimate roundtable chat.

The “What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?” star admitted that one turning point was his “near-death experience” in 2021 when he figured in a police car chase and collision, during which his vehicle also got shot at.

“When you almost died, you start to look at life differently,” he said.

The ‘What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?’ star admits that his ‘near-death experience’ in 2021, when he figured in a police car chase and collision, made him do a ‘hard stop’ on drinking. – STAR Photo

“When you get shot at by the cops, and they’re (netizens) calling you names without having to know the story, you change things.

“At the same time for me, I’m 36, I also pride myself in being a man, so you can’t get caught up in those types of problems anymore.”

Jake with Kim Chiu and Paulo Avelino.

Prior to that, he said he already started weaning off alcohol but the incident made him do a “hard stop.”

“I went cold turkey,” he said. Even taking little sips, he swore it off.

“It’s the hardest thing that I have to do, to be honest with you, to stop drinking, to say no, especially like to your bosses, and people in the industry because nga they knew me in a certain way.

“It was definitely one of the hardest that I have to do but it’s the best decision in my life,” continued Jake, who credited his mom for helping him.

If there’s any lesson to learn from his sobriety journey is that “you have to be very decided.”

“As difficult as it is, you have to cut people from your life, especially people na you have a bond in drinking with,” he admitted.

“I cut a lot of people out because I have to make solid and real changes. To work a schedule like I do mine, you don’t really have a lot of time for other things besides work. If I do have time, I want to spend it with my loved ones and family.”

When at work, he has since set down non-negotiables like no alcohol on set.

Besides ABS-CBN and Viu’s “What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?,” Jake is currently seen on TV5 as lead in the sitcom “Jack and Jill sa Diamond Hills.” He’s also doing two films with Baron Geisler — an action thriller, “Santo Miro,” under “The Iron Heart” director Lester Pimentel Ong and a Boys Love (BL) themed movie tentatively titled “Change Oil” under Cebuano filmmaker Don Frasco.

Baron has been vocal about his long and difficult recovery from alcoholism.

“We talk about it all the time (journey to sobriety), we have this ‘actors on actors’ na podcast on March 26, if you want to hear about that,” said Jake.

“But not just this subject but also being in the industry for so long. Sabi ko naman parang, our intention for that is to inspire people so we can talk about that, we can talk about acting and stuff like that. That’s what we’re gonna do.”

Jake further said of Baron: “If you look at his social media, that’s the movie he’s been training for, that’s why he’s in the gym every day, he’s getting ready for this film. For me, at this point with all the training to date, he put in so much work already, I have trust in him that we get this through the finish line and it’s gonna be a big year for Baron.”

As for the surprising decision to go the BL route for their other project, Jake was asked how “intimate” will he and Baron get in the film.

“We’ll do this action movie first and then start thinking about these things after,” he quipped. “We gotta kill each other first and then start loving each other, hahaha!”

On what made him particularly want to work with Baron, Jake said, “At this point in my career, I wanna collaborate with everyone. That’s why you see me working with Richard Gutierrez, Arjo Atayde, Paulo Avelino, Baron Geisler, because I’ve come to realize that if you work with the best, it will bring the best out of you.

“At the same time also, when are we going to do this collaboration? When we’re 50? I tell everyone I’m working with that now is the time to do all these collaborations when the limelight is still on us, when people still care about us, when people still love us.

“Sabi ko it’s time to show people these things now because the last thing you’d want to do is start assembling a group of actors when we’re like 55. But, I mean, you can do it by all means, but I feel like now is the time.”