"Philip and I don’t want to know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl," Lara told Funfare in an exclusive interview yesterday at the lobby of Shangri-La Makati where they were billetted. "We want a little suspense, a little surprise. I will have an ultrasound next week but I’m asking the doctor not to tell me what the baby’s gender is."
It’s the first child of the couple who have found happiness – and true love – the second time around, proving once again that love is indeed, as the song says, more comfortable the second time you fall.
Lara and Philip arrived last week for a family reunion (her father is Jaime Fabregas and her mother is Bing Caballero, both also with new partners now). Lara’s brother Paolo is getting married to Miran Alvarez, daughter of actor Roy Alvarez and his wife Nieves, in September.
"That’s a month before my delivery so I can’t attend the wedding," said Lara who left with Philip for Hong Kong last night. "My doctor has advised me against taking the plane at that time. Bad for me and my baby. This is the last time I can travel."
Lara, 30, and Philip, 40, met in a blind date last year in London, introduced to each other by a mutual friend. They got married in civil rites in Hong Kong where Philip worked for 11 years. It’s the second marriage for both. Philip was once married to a Chinese from Hong Kong and Lara to Raymond Bagatsing (they broke up only a few months after their Indian-style sunset wedding in Tagaytay in 2001); but neither has a child with their first spouses.
"We clicked at once," said Lara. "We’re still adjusting to each other but everything’s fine. We are quite easy with each other. We don’t fight. We stick together. He’s patient. You know, masungit (grumpy) ako and he tolerates it." (Asked about Raymond, Lara said in jest, "Pareho kaming masungit; pareho kasi kaming artist, eh.")
Added, Lara, "Philip is very shy; he doesn’t want to come down. (That’s why Philip is not with Lara in the picture on this page. – Ed) He looks like a younger version of Hollywood actor Ed Harris."
Lara said she and Philip decided not to get married in London because Philip’s father was sick of Hodgeskin Lymphoma (he’s on remission) and they didn’t want to hold a big event without him present. "The Hong Kong affair was very private," said Lara, "with only six other people present."
In May next year, they plan to have a Catholic church wedding here.
"By then, we’ll have a little baby acting either as flower girl or ring bearer," Lara laughed.
Adjusting to life in London wasn’t difficult for Lara because she stayed there for several months in 2003.
"I needed some change," said Lara who stayed for four years in Finland with her mother who married a Finnish diplomat. "I thought it was romantic to work as a waitress in a restaurant while pursuing an acting career."
Besides guesting in commercials, Lara has appeared in two TV shows in London, Holby City (the British version of the hit American TV show E.R.) and The Bell. Last year, she did a play entitled Serenading Louie.
"I haven’t turned my back on acting," assured Lara (who shuttles between London and Scotland where she and Philip have a house by the lake). "I’m still doing that in London. I’m still auditioning. I have an agent there. I’m also enrolled at an open-university (like a correspondence school), taking up Life Science (a mixture of biology, environment and geography)." (Philip is now also working in London.)
"The truth," said Mickey, "is that Archie and I really planned to get married before we had a baby. But something happened, so the baby came first before the wedding. But we will get married next year, definitely."
Mickey delievered by Caesarian section and has just recovered from post partum blues, a phase that all new mothers go through.
"But I’m back at work," said Mickey who’s co-hosting the new show Ano Ba’ng Hanap Mo? with Hyubs and Maoi Roca on IBC 13 (Sundays starting last May 28, 3 to 4 p.m.). "I breast-fed Brent for only a few weeks. He’s now on formula."
Archie has two love children by two different women but his past doesn’t bother Mickey.
"Brent is his third and last child daw sabi ni Archie," smiled Mickey who added that Archie is a changed man now. "He was never married. Getting married is his dream daw talaga. He’s responsible."
Archie had a big crush on Mickey before they met as co-host of the ABS-CBN noontime show Magandang Tanghali Bayan (MTB).
(Note: Mickey Ferriols is among the guests this Saturday, June 3, on Showbiz Stripped, 11:45 p.m. on GMA 7 after Hokus-Pokus, in the episode about Mga Anak Sa Labas together with Eric Quizon, Mark Anthony Fernandez, Rustom Padilla and Tonton Gutierrez.)