Melanie Marquez: Life has never been sweeter

Talk about a drastic reversal of character. By her own admission, Melanie Marquez used to be someone you don’t mess around with. You either put up with her, or face the possibility of staring at the barrel of a gun she won’t hesitate to poke at you if you rub her the wrong way.

She had a whole collection of these smoking machines, until her late father, Artemio Marquez, saw them and mercifully took them away from her sight and her hands, forever.

She took comfort in smoking, especially when under stress. Everyone knows her romantic dalliances, which produced six children.

Today, Melanie doesn’t need her gun collection anymore. More importantly, she doesn’t miss it at all. She doesn’t even hold a single stick of cigarette anymore. Neither does she have to look at men other than her 53-year-old American husband, Adam Lawyer. She has found peace at last, within herself and in the arms of her loving husband.

"Yes, I’ve mellowed," she smiles. And you know it’s true by the way she looks at you straight in the eye.

Now, all she wants is to share the knowledge in life and fashion she has learned all these years to others. And this, she does every Sunday, 5 p.m., as host of QTV 11’s Ginang Fashionista.

Here, women will learn the ABCs of budgeting (in the Tipideetips segment), basic fashion principles (in Style Files), posture (in Keri Onli) and practical analysis on fashion statements and styles of celebrities. Another segment, Fashion Raiders, takes a sneak peek at what’s inside top personalities’ closets.

Her new show, however, has yet to explore the "handywoman" in Melanie.

Yes, those dainty hands wield a hammer like a pro the way they can examine a dress and judge whether she will look good in it or not. In fact, Melanie’s basic knowledge of carpentry came in handy when she visited eldest son Manuelito’s pad in the US.

Busy as he is juggling his studies with work as an X-ray technician in a hospital, the 6’8"-tall Manuelito has no time to fix his pad. Melanie found stacks of papers scattered on the floor; odds and ends lying helter-skelter here and there.

Melanie didn’t wait for Manuelito to go home to the same state of disarray in his pad that day. She tied her long hair in a no-nonsense pony tail and borrowed a drill from a neighbor. Then, she proceeded to bore holes on the walls, got a hammer and banged away for all she’s worth.

Result: a couple of shelves on top of each other. She carefully arranged all of her son’s papers on those shelves and ordered a bed that could accommodate Manuelito’s tall, lean frame.

Manuelito was overwhelmed when he got home that day. Now, he need not sleep on the floor after a hard day’s work or wade through a pile of papers on his way to fetch a cup of coffee.

It’s clear from how she talks about him that Manuelito is Melanie’s source of pride and joy.

"He wants to be a doctor, like his idol, a Filipino physician who happens to be his boss in the hospital. He’s also a father figure to Manuelito," says Melanie. "That’s why he’s studying and working so hard."

Manuelito, adds Melanie, also wants to protect his father’s (Sen. Lito Lapid) reputation. Manuelito made Melanie promise that the public will never get to know about his arrival in Manila, if and when he decides to go home for a visit. After all, it will only stir a hornet’s nest. Besides, the senator and Melanie are already in good terms and it would be foolish to rock the boat.

Now, all Melanie wants – aside from sharing what she knows with others through her show – is to have one more child. Her seventh child, if ever, will enhance her union with a man any woman would love to have for a life partner, says Melanie. Her husband, gushes Melanie, is so God-fearing and responsible she feels like a queen walking on air all over again.

Life has never been sweeter for this lady who has paid her dues and now wants to share the lessons a lifetime of loving and learning has so generously taught her oh so well.