What keeps KC grounded

MANILA, Philippines - KC Concepcion feels humbled. While other artists were making mistakes as showbiz newbies, the biggest production companies were banking on her to carry a solo show and a big movie. While others had to hurdle a series of challenges in reality shows, KC was hogging the limelight the minute she returned from Paris.

“I was growing up before all of you,” she admits.

And now that ABS-CBN is casting her as Piolo Pascual’s leading lady in the remake of the hit koreanovela Lovers in Paris, KC is getting the aw-shucks feeling again.

“Other Kapamilya talents with teleseryes, like Bea Alonzo have been around for a long time. And here I am, getting the same kind of projects they’re getting,” gushes KC.

She knows Piolo happens to be her mom Sharon Cuneta’s crush and for that, all KC can say is, “Sorry, mom!” (translation: “Aren’t you envious? I get to make a soap with him first”).

Seriously though, KC is not pushing the panic button just because she’s starring opposite one of ABS-CBN’s top draws.

For one, she knows how it is to be in her character Vivian’s shoes before. Like Vivian, KC did household chores as a student in Paris.

“I specialize in cleaning the house,” she boasts.

Like Vivian, KC speaks French (throw in Spanish and Italian for good measure). And three years of staying in the Philippines after she finished her college degree has not diminished her fluency in the language.

“I’d write essays in French to brush up on the language. I also get to speak in French with UN (United Nations) officers (she’s a UN Ambassador against Hunger, remember?),” she relates.

The UN work may be taxing, even risky (they’re not allowed to reveal their exact location when they visit Mindanao for security reasons). But KC is the last to complain.

“It keeps me grounded,” she explains.

Grounded enough to tell herself she should look at hers and Piolo’s team-up as work, nothing more. Forget all about people pushing her into a romance with her brand-new leading man.

“Many girls are already dreaming about that,” KC reasons out.

She’d rather think of Piolo’s intensity as an actor, the way he turns his back on everybody after a heavy scene is shot.

“He gets so carried away, I feel like crying myself,” she admits.

And his maturity, KC observes, can be so impressive. It makes her feel safe when she’s with him.  Being older than former leading man Richard Gutierrez, KC knows Piolo has the edge only experience can give.

Piolo, KC observes, often gets lost in his thoughts.

That’s why she doesn’t want to disappoint her new leading man. For starters, KC wants to look her best as Vivian. So she’s working at shedding 15 pounds by sticking to a protein diet. This means sticking to fish, tofu and other non-fattening food.

It’s not as hard as you think for someone like KC who swears by the merits of physical fitness. 

KC also swears she will not leave the family home as yet. This much she promised her mom. Thus, it will take her two more years before she moves into her own condo unit.

Besides, there's nothing like the comfort of home after she returns from Paris, where she will stay for three weeks to shoot Lovers in Paris.

“It will be my first to go there for work, and I’m not sure if I will have time to visit my hold haunts,” she reveals.

Like a good soldier, she’s not complaining. Like KC has said over and over, she is humbled by all the breaks coming her way. And she can’t help but make sure she proves herself worthy of them.