Loren on marriage: Never again

An alluring woman need not have a man. But can she be happy without one?

At Thursday’s opening of the "Women of Allure" photo exhibit at the third level of the Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong City, three alluring and accomplished women currently separated from their husbands were asked: Are you going to marry again?

One gave a definite "no," another gave a definite "yes," while the other gave a definite "maybe."

Former senator Loren Legarda, who is estranged from former Batangas governor Jose Antonio Leviste, immediately answered, "Never again!"

"No man is worth it," she said, adding, "With all the work that I must do, who has time for husbands or boyfriends?"

Legarda is running for the Senate in the May elections, and is currently topping surveys on likely winners. It will be the second first term for the multi-awarded broadcast journalist and former Close-Up model.

For her part, Miss Universe 1991 first runner-up Miriam Quiambao, who is in the process of getting a divorce from Hong Kong-based Italian businessman Claudio Rondinelli, said, "Of course! I’m just waiting for the right man to find me."

"The worst is over, I am now ready to move on," Quiambao told The STAR. She is now training to be a life coach, saying, "I like mentoring people."

Sen. Pia Cayetano, the youngest Filipina ever elected to the Senate, said, "Well, I’d definitely like to fall in love again!"

Also a lawyer, Cayetano is separated from her lawyer husband. She spearheads information campaigns and legislation against violence on women and children, for breastfeeding and major ailments stalking women.

The "Women of Allure" exhibit was born from a special series in the STAR’s Allure section that featured 32 photographs of accomplished and alluring women — 20 of which were put on exhibit. The 32 women are Legarda, Quiambao, Cayetano and Vivienne Tan, Charo Santos-Concio, Korina Sanchez, Josie Natori, Monique Lhuillier, Lea Salonga, Lucy Torres-Gomez, Toni Rivero, Tina Maristela-Ocampo, Jo-Ann Bitagcol, Pia Guanio, Isabel Roces, Bea Zobel Jr., Chin Chin Gutierrez, Dr. Liaa-Cojuangco Bautista, Katrina Goulbourn-Feist, Carissa Evangelista, Rachel Arenas, Dr. Sylvia Huang, Dr. Pie Calayan, Patrice Ramos-Diaz, Bianca Gonzalez, Liza Ilarde, Mia Nolasco, Katrina Holigores, Cessie Colayco, Tina Ansaldo, Marilyn Santiago-Kerr, Michelle Dayrit-Soliven, photographed by the country’s best lensmen, including Jun de Leon, Xander Angeles, Sara Black, Pat Dy, Charles Lu, Jojo Guingona, Jo Ann Bitagcol and Christian Panganiban.

The photographs were art directed and styled by Allure creative director Luis Espiritu Jr., and contributing stylists Eric Pe Benito, Ferdi Salvador, Corine Alegre, Arturo Go and Chechel Joson. — Joanne Rae Ramirez, Bum Tenorio Jr.