Angel Aquino on life, love and lessons
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| Angel Aquino — undoubtedly one of the most beautiful Filipinas ever — has been a lifestyle show host for 13 years now. From F to Us Girls, to Tablescapes, and now Interior Motives |
Always barefaced with just-brushed eyebrows and a bit of
blush on her cheeks, this model, host, and actress instantly commands attention
in whatever room she enters. With no loud presence or entourage to merit this attention,
it’s because of her beauty alone that people cannot help but look. Undoubtedly
one of the most beautiful Filipinas ever, a single mother of two with an
extremely colorful story to share in life and love, here are 10 things you
should know about Angel Aquino.
1. She grew up in a
lower-middle-class household where she saw her mom get hit by her dad. But it
wasn’t all dark days; Angel recalls a happy childhood.
“Maybe because we were still looking at it through young
eyes. You know, sometimes kids cry, but then you give them candy and they
forget all about it,” Angel recalls. The eldest of five children, she smiles as
she shares how they would go to the store, buy Chippy and 75-centavo Coke, have
no clothes on, just pulbos, and be home by 6 p.m. to make mano. She says that
they never really saw their parents act affectionate towards each other, and
that her dad was the more cariñoso parent, while her mom was the strict one.
One of her fondest memories was that of her dad cooking a feast for them when
he would be home (“just on weekends, and not every weekend”) with all of them
going to the market together (both parents are Kapampangan and love to cook).
On the other hand, because they lived in such a small home,
they were always witnesses to domestic violence. “It happens, you cry a bit,
then days go by and you forget about it again.” She shares that as they grew
older and her mom learned how to fight back and make a bit of money on her own,
that’s when the beatings lessened. “She somehow empowered herself and my tatay
couldn’t hurt her anymore,” reveals Angel.
“Now I try for everyone to be in the know, we don’t keep
secrets, we don’t tell lies, yun yung pact namin,” Angel says of what she
learned from her childhood. She considers her two daughters Iana and Athea her
best friends, saying, “They know everything that I go through. They see me as
their human mom, not someone who is a super mom na kaya yung lahat.”
2. Angel became an
activist during her college days in UP Baguio.
“I’ve always known there was something weird about me. I may have been very
timid and shy, but something inside me was itching to say something.”
She went to grade school in Barangka
Elementary School in Marikina, and because of her mother’s
determination for them to value education, Angel studied hard and became a
Tulong Dunong scholar at St. Bridget’s high school. For college, she went to UP
(“I’ve always wanted to be in UP, and I just thought of placing Baguio because
I’ve always wanted to go to Baguio”), and though she entered as a Math major,
(“I loved Algebra but didn’t realize there would be higher maths!”) she started
to fail some subjects so she shifted to a Mass Communications course.
She became a member of the League of Filipino Students
(LFS), and though she was never the speaker at rallies (“At that time, the
thing we were most passionate about were the bases. We wanted them to leave”),
she would be part of lightning rallies, carrying placards, writing and
distributing statements, and orienting newcomers. As she was growing up, Angel
says that when there would be situations she wasn’t comfortable with, as much
as she wanted to say something, she didn’t have the courage. “So when I
discovered activism, I realized I had a venue. There were other people speaking
up for me and I could just be part of a group that share the same sentiments.”
She says she was never a public speaker back then, and even to this day, she
gets the jitters before hosting live events.
3. On the day of her
19th birthday, she was discovered by director Jeffrey Jeturian in the mall and
was first offered to become a beauty contestant or actress.
Angel was brought by direk Jeffrey to different agencies,
castings, and go-sees for commercials. “In high school I really thought I was
ugly,” she says. She recalls how frizzy her hair was (“parang walis”) and that
it was in third-year high school when she decided to grow it out from the boy
cut her mom would always give her. She recalls soaking her hair in oil every
single night, and though she isn’t sure that that’s what improved the quality
of her hair, she says, “When people would say, ‘Uy, pwede to sa shampoo
commercial,’ I thought they were making fun of me.”
When she was 23, Angel finally decided to take the plunge
into acting when director Butch Perez searched for her in Baguio to offer her the role of a Banaue
princess in the film Mumbaki.
4. Nineteen was the
age Angel was forced to grow up fast, because aside from starting to work, she
got pregnant with her first child.
“It was New Year’s Day, and (my mom) asked me if I was
pregnant. She probably noticed changes in my body. I didn’t even know, I just noticed
that I wasn’t getting my period, so I answered, ‘Hindi ko po alam,’” Angel
recalls. When the pregnancy test turned positive, her mom went up to Baguio to find and talk
to her boyfriend Ian. “She was very calm but very angry, disappointed at the
same time. I couldn’t believe it was happening to me, I was so scared.” He was
scheduled to leave for the US,
so when Iana was born, he did just that, and Angel went back to modeling
fulltime. Two years later, Ian came home; they got married, had their second
daughter Thea, and eventually got a legal annulment. “We were both very young,
we really grew apart,” Angel says.
Thea was born with hydrocephalus and was operated on when
she was three weeks old. “We didn’t have the luxury of time, it was very urgent
that she be operated on, so we just faced the problem, went back to work
immediately, I had to lose weight so dramatically, I stopped eating, I couldn’t
breastfeed,” Angel reveals. She shares that Thea has been living with her
condition for 17 years now, and though there have been complications, she
attends school and is currently in Grade 8.
“When I saw her after the operation, this little kid on a
big hospital bed, I asked, ‘Why her?’ Not so much why did it happen to us,
family, or me, but why her,” Angel admits. She recalls how she couldn’t help
but blame herself for not taking care of herself better, how she was so
depressed because things were not going well with her then-husband, how she was
angry, and even in denial that she was pregnant.
At the end of the day, she says: “My kids are the best
things that came out of that trying period, if you may call it that; I would
not have it another way.”
5. There came a point
when Angel seriously wanted to have cosmetic surgery to get bigger breasts.
“That was the time that I was recovering from my two
pregnancies and I didn’t feel too good about myself. From perky breasts they
became *wenk* sad,” Angel laughs. She says she went as far as going to the
doctor, being measured, and seeing “the things.” “I couldn’t do it!” she says,
still laughing.
6. She has been a
lifestyle show host for 13 years now. From F to Us Girls, to Tablescapes, and
now Interior Motives.
Her favorite lifestyle features ever:
• Lei’s Lumpia: “It’s in the Xavierville, Katipunan area. I
go there till now, it’s all vegetables, has this garlicky sauce, it’s just so
good.”
• Buenavista Island Resort: “It’s this private resort on an island
off Davao …
it’s beautiful!”
• Lemon: “We had all these beauty tips using lemon! Like if
you put it in water, the water turns alkaline. Or when you rub it on the
creases of your skin to whiten, or you add a bit of vodka to lemon juice, you
can use it as a foot spray.”
7. Angel Aquino in
numbers:
25-plus: Films she has done, both commercial and independent.
She has done over 15 television shows, winning one best supporting actress
award for Laro Sa Baga and one best actress award for Donsola.
35,000: Amount in pesos she got as her first paycheck for a
soap commercial that never aired. “I gave it to my nanay. Sabi nila your first
paycheck you give to your parents so it’ll grow.”
1: Times a week she goes to church in Baclaran. “I’m not
even aware of wishes that have been granted, I just know that the energy there
is different.”
10: Pesos a day, which was her allowance in school. It’d buy
her a soft drink and chichiria.
4: The longest span of time in years that a guy was trying
to court her. “I don’t know if it was courting, but he was present for that
long!”
8. On love and failed
relationships: “You know there’s no such thing as ‘hindi ka nagtira para sa
sarili mo.’ When you’re there, you find yourself lost in the sea of romance,
love, happiness, sometimes turbulence.”
“In the beginning I was too reckless, I would trust myself
too much when falling in love. I wouldn’t give it much thought, but when you’re
at this age, you have to,” the 39-year old mother of two shares. After her
early marriage, two long-term relationships (one with musician Norby David and
another with actor Lui Villaruz), and meeting and dating people, she says her
priority for now is no longer a romantic relationship just full of kilig, but
more of a lasting friendship.
On issues thrown at her about her being gay, she reveals:
“I’ve been there. And I’ve always been open-minded. No judgment, UP-ian ako.”
On great love, she shares: “If you ask me if I’ve ever
experienced greatest love from someone the way I know great love to be, then
yes.” She is currently not in a relationship but says she is waiting to give
that love its time again. For now she is enjoying the happiness of just being
with herself. “You know, after a relationship, you just pick yourself up.”
9. Her love life is
an open book to her daughters, and they are the first ones who comfort her when
she’s heartbroken.
“There was one time I was so hurt because my boyfriend broke
up with me, Iana sat on her kahon, and she started playing With A Smile by the
Eraserheads. I found that so sweet,” Angel shares. During another time when
Angel was going through something, she found her daughter Thea by the bed,
asking her to lean on her, as she tapped her mom’s side to sleep. “My kids are
amazing,” Angel says.
On the other side of the coin, Angel says her daughter
Iana’s boyfriend is very close to the family and they’d often go on dinner
dates for four. “Thea would tell me, ‘Mom, pag magka-boyfriend ako you’ll also
be his friend, ha?’ I’d answer, ‘I’ll be his best friend,’” Angel shares.
10. After almost 20
years as an actress, Angel finally landed her first starring role in the film
Amorosa.
She says she has gotten so used to playing supporting roles
that she immediately assumed she was not the lead role for this movie, until
she realized her character’s name, Rosa, is
the title of the film. “I’m always used to just being there for the bida, like
in Magkaribal, I was just there for Bea Alonzo and Gretchen Barretto,” she says
humbly of her memorable role as the antagonist Vera. In fact, on her third shooting
day, she was pulled aside by her director and was told that she should act more
like the bida. “I didn’t even know what that meant!” she says laughing.
She shares that looking long-term, she is also trying to get
into a business. “I want to still be a part of this industry because I love
doing it. I love it when a role challenges me, but I will not be there ’cause I
need to be. I want it to remain a passion.”
It surprises me every time I talk to Angel how low-key she is in
everything. Low-maintenance when it comes to her beauty regimen, never flashy
when it comes to fashion, just taking her time when it comes to her career, not
even rushing when it comes to love. Almost everything in showbiz now is about
rising, going, getting, a nd here is a woman just gliding through it all with
such grace. Despite having gone through a life so dramatic, just like the roles
she plays on MMK, you will never feel any heaviness around her because, true to
her real name, Angelita, her presence instantly creates a light.
