Whatever happened to the sex goddesses?

Last Saturday’s episode on Showbiz Stripped was a must-see for showbiz people. Featuring six ex-sex goddesses on the silver screen, the show stressed how stardom (and its perks) can be so flitting.

The first former sexy star featured was Sarsi Emmanuelle. Oh, Sarsi was divine in those days – the first half of the ’80s. She starred in sexy film after sexy film after sexy film – including one about the life of ex-bomba star Yvonne, who eventually became the first Gawad Urian Best Supporting Actress winner (she tied with Mitch Valdes, then still Maya).

Sarsi later clinched an Urian nomination for herself – in Boatman (she lost to Vilma Santos no less in Sister Stella L.). Her most critically-acclaimed film, however, will always be Peque Gallaga’s Virgin Forest in 1985. After that, she slowly just disappeared.

Not so long ago, she resurfaced and told the world about the humbling experiences she went through away from the limelight – including working as a takilyera in a feria operated by a relative.

She made a comeback last year and was cast in an ABS-CBN soap opera. But now is not really the best time to be in show business. We make very few films. Digital movies pay the actors so little (because the budget is so small) and the only way to survive on TV is to have enough strength to wear those heavy costumes in fantaseryes. But there will always be room for a real talent like Sarsi – one of the few gifted actresses who had to go through the sex film route first before being recognized for her true worth.

The second former sex kitten featured in last Saturday’s Showbiz Stripped was Brigitte de Joya, who starred in only two Seiko sex films before saying goodbye to the movies to shack up with screen stud Miguel Moreno. Their union – now over (it ended bitterly) – produced three good-looking kids. She only has her two kids with her, however, and it pains her so much to be away from her first-born – now with Miguel.

Brigitte is aching to make a comeback because she obviously needs to earn for her kids. Unfortunately, unlike Sarsi Emmanuelle, Brigitte’s body of work (only two forgettable movies) is very unimpressive and producers and directors would think twice first before casting her to play character roles in movies and on TV. Her body is not in tip-top shape either. But for the sake of her kids, I hope there would be takers.

Also very interesting was the Vida Verde segment. Vida Verde became a sex star in the mid-’80s. Her face was lovely – very Pinay, just like the late Halina Perez.

Vida Verde is now in Tuguegarao – stricken with breast cancer – but still beautiful. I don’t remember her saying in her interview that she wants to make a comeback. I’m sure what she wants now are prayers – lots of prayers for her to survive this uphill battle with the Big C.

Through prayers, Myra Manibog has gotten over her sad past life as a bold star. And what a past it was – having done lurid sex scenes on the big screen in the mid-’80s. She must have been the most exploited in her batch because she claimed in her interview that she was only 13 when she started doing those sex films. No wonder she went later in life, but mercifully was redeemed when she found the Lord. Today, she is a preacher and has found peace at last.

Listening to Myra, you will be impressed with the way she speaks. For somebody whose dialogues in the movies were limited to ooohs and aaahs, she is very articulate and her thoughts are fluid.

Obviously she had always been intelligent, but was young and misguided and so she chose the wrong path. But she turned in a new leaf and here she is – the best example of a person who has been to hell and back and is now in the loving arms of the Almighty God.

About a decade ahead of Myra was Carmen Ronda, who belongs to the batch of "wet look" sex sirens of the mid-’70s. Carmen’s drumbeaters then capitalized on her very humble beginnings as a poor girl who lived in a cariton (pushcart).

Bearing strong mestiza features, Carmen starred in about a couple of films (one of which was Piknik with Daria Ramirez) and managed to carve a name for herself. But she disappeared from the scene when she and former action star Rhene Imperial began raising a family.

The union unfortunately turned sour and Carmen was separated not only from Rhene, but also from the kids. She fell in love a second time and now has another kid from this union. Although she manages to get by, your heart bleeds for her because you know she was already once up there and now she is back to her hard-up life.

In the case of Jenny Roa, you don’t know what to make of her in her Showbiz Stripped interview last Saturday.

I actually witnessed part of her interview because that was done on a Saturday and I had just finished Startalk and I was on my way out of the GMA 7 lobby when I saw a huddle of Showbiz Stripped staff members. I knew there was tension because there was this worried look in their eyes. It turned out that Jenny Roa didn’t like the idea that there was another Jenny (Jenny Simeon, Showbiz Stripped reporter) within breathing distance. Why she didn’t like having a namesake around – nobody knows.

At one point of the interview, she wanted to excuse herself to go to the bathroom. "I need to pee," she said in the vernacular. "Let’s go to Intramuros."

It was head writer Ronnie Carrasco who was doing the interview that time and in one portion, he asked Jenny. "What do you live for?" To that, she said, "I didn’t leave the country!" Her response could have been funny if it were part of Melanie Marquez’s Melanism of the Mind portion. But it was not – and it was saddening to know that she wasn’t in full control of herself anymore. I’m not saying that she was stoned because I have no proof. Let me just say that she was not herself that time and it was so kind of the Showbiz Stripped people not to have aired the really ludicrous comments she said during the interview. Other shows could have played up her sorry situation some more, but Showbiz Stripped didn’t. As host Ricky Lo said in his spiel: "Hindi niya kailangan ng ating awa, kundi and ating pang-unawa."

Many of you probably would not understand why some movie stars turn out to be wrecks. It is actually in the system where money is easy (although it disappears just as easily), where there are all sorts of characters who will bleed you dry and where values can be distorted (especially since this is a business where everybody starts young – when their minds can be manipulated almost effortlessly).

Show business is a tough world and you need a solid family background to be able to come out of it whole. It’s so easy to fall into a trap in this profession and Myra Manibog was only one of the very few who was able to turn things around and came out a better person.

Now, do you still want to join show business?