Antoinette talks about the ‘pregnant’ issue

Anytime next week, Antoinette Taus is coming home not really to clear up the unsavory rumor (you know, that she is "hiding" in Los Angeles because she’s pregnant, courtesy of her rumored boyfriend Dingdong Dantes) swirling around her since she left last March with her dad (Tom, Sr.) and brother (Tom, Jr.).

No, Antoinette never said that she was going there to study which is the usual excuse (alibi?) of actresses going abroad to wait for a stork’s visit made strictly confidential. She just said that she was going there with her family, contemplating on staying there "if something good" happened to a new career in recording she was planning to pursue.

It was only the three of them – that is, Antoinette, her dad and her brother – who are in L.A., leaving behind her mom who’s managing the family restaurant in Pampanga.

The rumor about her pregnancy started spreading immediately after Antoinette’s departure, along with the rumor that Angelu de Leon was pregnant (she has given birth recently) that’s why she was (ma)lingering in New York. (Angelu denied that the father of her second love child is the Marcos guy she had a brief romance with; a Funfare DPA said that the father is actually "Mr. J," the same guy romantically linked to Angelu sometime last year, and Funfare isn’t referring to Joko Diaz who’s the father of Angelu’s first love child.)

In Antoinette’s absence, poor Dingdong has been beside himself trying to deny the rumor, saying it’s not true when he should have said, "How could Antoinette be pregnant when we were not doing it?," Antoinette being not the type who would commit that "sin," or so people close to her claim. Meanwhile, Antoinette has been quiet, complacent as she seemed to be with being a private citizen in L.A. where she shares a cozy home on Ventura Street just, as her dad put it, "three traffic lights away from Universal Studios."

I was right inside the Universal City last week for the press junket for Jurassic Park III (Note: Watch for a free-wheeling Conversation with Jurassic leading lady Téa Leoni in tomorrow’s issue of The STAR), booked with Bulletin’s Shirley Pizarro at the Universal Hilton from the 15th floor of which you could see the Universal Studios’ kilometric escalator and the City Walk (a promenade dotted with curio shops, cafes and theaters which fill up with people as soon as the sun set, which was at around 7 p.m.).

Before I left Manila, I asked Kuya Mar (d’Guzman Cruz of DZXL’s popular program Showbiz with Kuya Mar) for Antoinette’s phone number, Kuya Mar being close to both Antoinette and Dingdong, and he said he’d get the number from Dingdong before passing it on to me. Unfortunately, by the time Kuya Mar was able to text me that Antoinette was going to call me, Shirley and I were about to board the Super Shuttle to the L.A. airport for our trip back home.

But Antoinette did text me, leaving behind a number I could call. That’s what I did yesterday afternoon, five days after I got back from L.A.

So, I asked Antoinette, is she aware of the "pregnancy rumor" about her?

Breaking into girlish giggles, Antoinette, sounding unperturbed, said, "Yes, I am. My Mom has been telling me about it. She and my Dad were never bothered by the rumor, and neither was I. We know the truth."

In short, it’s not true.

But is it true that her father didn’t approve of her relationship (if any) with Dingdong so he packed off Antoinette and Tom, Jr. to the US to keep them (Antoinette and Dingdong) apart?

"No, it’s not true," said Antoinette. "In fact, my Dad knows that I talk to Dingdong on the phone almost every day. Dingdong and I have regular communication."

Since March, according to Antoinette, she had been waiting-and-seeing what would happen, whether a recording deal her newly-hired agent was negotiating would be pushed through. Otherwise, she has been enjoying an extended vacation, looking into other prospects.

"If nothing good happens to me here (in L.A.)," said Antoinette, "I might go back to the Philippines. I’m giving myself one more year here."

In that case, rumor-mongers might suspect that she’s staying longer in L.A. to, that’s it, "give birth" and give herself a chance to "slim down" and get rid of "post-natal pounds" before coming home.

"You know," said Antoinette, sounding very cool and very calm, "I’m taking the tsismis in stride. When we left the Philippines last March, I warned my Dad, ‘Wait and see, there’ll be tsismis that I’m going to the States because I am pregnant and I want to hide.’ True enough, nagkaroon nga ng tsismis."

But as I’ve said earlier in this story, Antoinette might come home anytime next week not to clear the (unfounded?) rumor but to work on possibly a four-episode starrer for GMA’s new hit drama show Larawan (which has so far featured the likes of Donita Rose and Assunta da Rossi). It was Antoinette’s mom who has been negotiating with GMA for the project.

Antoinette said she might stay for only three weeks and go right back to L.A., far from tsismis and yet not really spared by it.

Don’t worry, said Antoinette. If ever she gets married years from now to Dingdong (or somebody else) and gets pregnant (but not out of wedlock, never!), she’ll announce it to the whole wide world.

So do stand by and keep your ears open.

Goodbye, JR! Hello, JRPJ!

As I’ve been saying, there’s nothing like an old familiar love song to touch the hearts of music-lovers (this one included). No wonder revivals are a sure hit in the recording business.

John Robert Porter, Jr. is doing just that in his latest album, Crossroads (released by Viva Records), which carries two original compositions (his own), Kontrobersyal and Why Can’t We Ever Get Along, and a handful of revivals (such as Skyline Pigeon, Wild World, White Shade of Pale, I’ll Never Cry, I Started A Joke, Father & Son and Hard Headed Woman).

You tune in to the radio which is doing a heavy promo for the album and you’ll see that John does sound good in his "revival" venture (especially his own version of the Bee Gee’s I Started A Joke).

No, John Robert Porter, Jr. is not a new singer. He’s actually John Rendez who has resorted to using his real surname (Porter) because, he was quoted good-humoredly, "the name Rendez carried not-so-pleasant memories," so he discarded it. New name, new direction.

That’s also the name – John Robert Porter, Jr. – the former John Rendez is using in his next movie, Alyas John Doe (coming after Sindak), which he himself is producing under his own company, Metaldog Productions. In the movie, JRPJ does a lot of Bruce Willis-inspired action scenes as a "tribute" to his idol who has inspired even his hairdo. "Thin in front," said JRPJ jokingly.

There you are. Meet the "singing Bruce Willis."