Abby Cruz: Breakup with Paolo Bediones opened doors for showbiz

Former beauty queen Abby Cruz had long wanted to give showbiz a try but she didn’t get the break that she had wanted. Although she was a runner-up to the Bb. Pilipinas pageant two years ago, Abby didn’t think that would lead to a career in showbiz. She confessed that she was kind of reluctant to give acting a try then. She did land a role in the TV series “Lupin” starring Richard Gutierrez, but this did not give way to major showbiz opportunities, apart from the appearances in several TV shows of GMA 7.

When Abby learned from a friend that there’s an audition for the role of Eunice in the ABS-CBN teleserye “Lovers in Paris,” she didn’t hesitate to give it a try. But the role was given to Assunta de Rossi. Abby was, nevertheless, elated when she was picked to play the role of Assunta’s friend. The role was created for her since there was no character as such in the original story.

“Maybe the production staff of Lovers in Paris liked what they saw when I auditioned so they offered me the role of Assunta’s friend,” said Abby who was pleasantly surprised to bag the role.

Aside from the ABS-CBN program, Abby also hosts “Home TV Shopping” for Solar TV. She also just finished doing a movie titled “Cordillera” as the leading lady of action star Roi Vinzon. She plays a city girl who gave up her life in the lowlands to be the wife of an Igorot chieftain.

She’s also currently doing a solo indie film titled “Tanglaw” where she plays an OFW. She was very glad to have given the break to topbill the film produced by a new production outfit.

Even if Abby had broken up with Paolo Bediones due to personal differences which she declined to elaborate on, she said that she still communicates with the host of “Survivor Philippines: Palau” once in a while. But they have yet to see each other since they parted ways. But she noticed that ever since the breakup, she started receiving offers to do more movies and TV shows, something that didn’t happen when she and Paolo were still together.

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Action star Robin Padilla is the new endorser of Trust Condom and at the presscon held last week, he was asked if he always brings with him a packet of condom. “I don’t need to bring one because there’s no need for me to use that,” Robin said in the vernacular, meaning he’s faithful to his wife Liezl who lives in Australia.

Robin added that he accepted the offer to endorse Trust condom because he believes that people should take initiative or help to stop the problem of population explosion.

He recognizes the fact that many people might frown on his idea of pushing the use of condom to help curb population growth. He also knows he might incur the ire of church leaders since the use of condom is a form of contraceptive, something that the church frowns upon.

“Ang kampanya namin ngayon ay nakatuon sa mga lalaki. Dapat responsible siya. Lalaki ka, ang dami mong anak? Ano nga naman ang kinabukasan ng iyong mga anak? Asan naman ang pagkalalaki mo kung ang mga anak mo ay nasa kalsada at namamalimos,” said Robin.

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Former “Bagets” star Raymond Lauchengco is making his acting comeback as the brother of Aga Muhlach in the film that the latter is doing with Regine Velasquez for Viva Films. He also did an episode for Maalaala Mo Kaya with Zsa Zsa Padilla.

It has been a very long time since he last acted in a film, and his initial reaction was to turn it down. While he did accept the offer, Raymond was honest enough to say that he’s not really looking forward to his next acting assignment.

“But with the movie that I am doing with Aga, we’d probably do just five sequences a day, unlike in a TV drama where we would have to finish so many sequences in several hours. That could be taxing like finishing 40 sequences in so many hours,” said Raymond at the presscon of the Men of the 80s concert that will be staged at the Skydome of SM City North EDSA on November 21.

Joining Raymond in this show are fellow hitmakers of the 80s namely Randy Santiago, Louie Heredia and Gino Padilla. They just got back from a tour in the United States where they regaled the audience with the hits that made them top heartthrobs of the 80s.

Raymond was also part of the iconic movie “Bagets.” He is best known for enduring favorites like “Farewell,” “I Need You Back,” “So It’s You” and “Saan Darating ang Umaga.”

He said that his passion now is his family and singing. He can’t give up too much of his time to devote to a theater production. He likes it better to do corporate shows. And he’d like to do another album for Viva Records where he recently signed up a two-album deal. He’s still thinking of a fitting concept for his next album.