If she thinks it’s a bitter pill to swallow, Keana hardly shows it. She didn’t survive poverty and an unhappy marriage just to let this stumbling block get in her way.
"I had to register my vehicle (a Starex) and do other things besides," she explains.
Everything’s fine now, thank you.
As she said the minute after ABS-CBN proclaimed her grand winner of its popular reality search, Keana feels like a woman reborn. It’s nothing short of seeing the Red Sea part, passing through it, and emerging a whole new person.
She can feel it in her bones. The guys – potential boyfriends in her eyes – keep a respectful distance. While this is a sign of how highly they regard her, Keana is not jumping up and down with joy. She wants to scream at their ears, "Don’t worry, guys. You may approach me, I don’t bite."
It could be because this new kind of treatment is something Keana has to yet to get used to. So she squirms in her seat whenever men handle her like some piece of fragile porcelain.
But that’s better than being treated like a piece of chattel, the way she has been before.
"Masarap mabuhay sa respeto," she gushes. "It’s only now that I’m experiencing how it is to have good clean fun. It’s only now that I don’t have to think of entertaining people whenever I go out."
Good clean fun is what she gets whenever she paints the town red with I Wanna Be Happy co-star Joey Marquez and Rustom Padilla, of course.
Love is taking a backseat now in favor of career, where opportunities are springing up like water lilies on a pond. And Keana knows she’ll be a fool to let these once-in-a-lifetime chances go to waste.
She parlays her natural flair for comedy as Eddie Garcia’s mistress in Seiko Films’ I Wanna Be Happy. Keana is a riot as the Visayan bombshell Eddie falls for after his wife (Gloria Romero) abandons the family shortly before their golden wedding anniversary,
"Keana is a natural," Gloria observes.
True to form, Keana didn’t have to strain herself in her scenes with her more veteran co-stars (the film also stars Cherry Pie Picache, Diana Zubiri, Alfred Vargas and Marissa Delgado).
"Comedy is fun. I don’t have to act anymore," she asserts. But she also finds dramatic roles irresistible since it is here "where I expect to learn a lot."
Keana is not wanting in this area. She hopes to prove her mettle in drama in the upcoming digital film Raket ni Nanay, where she plays the title role no less.
Keana will play Bea Alonzo’s best friend in a soap opera.
It’s comedy time once more for Keana in the ABS-CBN sitcom Aalog-Alog, where she stars with another former PBB housemate John Prats, Pokwang and Joross Gamboa.
Keana’s follow-up movies after I Wanna Be Happy are with Viva (Reyna with Ethel Booba) and Regal Films (Beauty).
Ramp modeling has also beckoned. Keana will don a two-piece in a Bench underwear fashion show. She is also doing a commercial for a biscuit brand.
"This is my second chance. I don’t want to disappoint those who trust me," muses Keana.
If it weren’t for PBB, she’ll now be in Japan, earning the same amount of money she is getting. But she won’t get the same red carpet treatment she is getting today. More importantly, Keana won’t be walking with her head held high, her chin up, the way she does today.
This time, she promises, she will never stumble again. Money will not dazzle her with its promise of an easy life the way it did years back. In fact, she doesn’t even handle her own money. She lets a trusted aide do it for her, simply because "I don’t want to be extravagant."
Now she’s talking.