New storm in Ruffa's life

For Ruffa Gutierrez, the storm she has dreaded is gathering on the horizon. “Just received a shocking phone call,” Ruffa tweeted last week. “The storm

I was anticipating is coming, soon. Please pray for me as I fight the biggest battle of my life.”

She gave no other details, and that deepened the mystery. But slowly it became apparent that she was referring to the decision of her estranged husband Yilmaz Bektas to fight for the custody of their daughters Lorin and Venice.

The children have been with Ruffa since she decided to leave Yilmaz several years ago. Their parting was stormy, with the actress dropping broad hints that she was a victim of spousal abuse.

Last year, a Quezon City court granted Ruffa sole custody of Lorin and Venice, and gave Yilmaz visiting rights. At that time, Yilmaz seemed to have accepted the court ruling and for a while it appeared that the two had come to some kind of live-and-let-live arrangement. Ruffa began seeing other guys and Yilmaz was reported to be going steady with former Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera (he seems to have a penchant for beauty queens).

Then last week, out of the blue, Yilmaz was on the offensive, firing off emails to media entities questioning the court decision. He said it was unfair for the court to render judgment without hearing his side.

In his communication with Rickly Lo, Philippine Star’s entertainment editor, Yilmaz also mentioned that he was donating a certain amount to her daughters through his sister, who was coming to the Philippines.

“Lies. Lies. Lies,” was Ruffa’s reaction.

Perhaps Yilmaz’s attempt to wrest custody of his daughters from their mother was not out of the blue after all, Tito Ricky ventured. He recalled that he had mentioned in his column about Ruffa’s “special someone” who attended her birthday party last month. Tito Ricky identified the “special someone” as Eduardo Puertas.

Is it out of jealousy then that Yilmaz is whipping up a storm for Ruffa?

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It’s so obvious that Diether Ocampo is the person whom Kris Aquino referred to as the friend who had stopped courting her because she was too busy to attend to him.

After denying it for so long, Diet finally admitted he had tried to win the Queen of All Media’s love, but that it didn’t work out. “She was busy, I was busy. It’s hard to maintain a relationship if your work is compromised,” he said.

He can’t say for certain if he’ll resume courting Kris again. “I can control my mind, but I can’t control my heart.”

The buzz is that Kris gave Diether a P5-million watch as a gift, but he denies this. He did acknowledge, however, that Kris helped him look for a new house to buy, although he said she did so out of friendship.

* * *

She hasn’t taken a vacation for quite a while, so Sarah Geronimo was off to Europe for a well-deserved break.

Sarah had the time off after she finished a short course on dancing and singing in the US, according to Viva boss man Vic del Rosario. The Pop Princess was abroad for a month.

Boss Vic could not confirm, however, if it was really David Foster who recommended a voice coach for Sarah. All he knows is that it was Mrs. Millie Gurfingkel who arranged for the lessons.

Boss Vic said Sarah requested for a vacation after shooting her hit movie with Gerald Anderson. “She deserved some time off,” he said.

But Sarah plunged right back to work when she returned home.

In the works is her much-awaited third team-up with John Lloyd Cruz, following the blockbusters A Very Special Love and You Changed My Life. Sarah has also begun her provincial tour with Martin Nievera titled What Love Is, which will run till November.