A wake-up call for Carmen Soo

MANILA, Philippines - Even the coolest celebrities lose their composure in the face of threats to their health. Take Carmen Soo, Jericho Rosales’ leading lady in the Emmy-nominated Kahit Isang Saglit. The Malaysian actress got the scare of her life recently when her doctor advised an operation to remove a 10-year-old lump in her breast.

“I’ve been putting things off because I was busy with the soap,” she recalls. There was no delaying things anymore when she returned to Malaysia. The lump was growing and her doctor was firm: The operation couldn’t wait.

Carmen never had any drastic medical procedure done on her, not even, she says, a tooth extraction (see those pearly whites?).

“I’ve never taken anesthesia. Neither did I have an appendix removed,” she relates.

So the mere thought of going under the knife for the first time alarmed Carmen.

“I was down for two months,” she recalls.

Good thing the lump is benign and Carmen can now heave a sigh of relief. But that brief brush with the unknown taught her an important lesson.

She has become more health-conscious. Knowing that stress is the main culprit behind many illnesses, including that lump that worried her so, Carmen slowed down for two months. She watched what she ate, got into an exercise regimen and made sure she got lots of sleep.

“I love the sun! I swim and go wakeboarding weekly,” she says.

Carmen knows that she must pay a steep price for loving the sun the way she does. The rays rob her skin of moisture and may make it dry as cracked earth on a hot summer day.

On top of that, now that she’s back to work (she will soon shoot a TV drama in Singapore), Carmen must wear make-up daily. Thus, her sensitive skin is exposed to lots of chemicals.

“That’s why I’ve been using Clinelle for a year now,” Carmen explains. Her favorite is the brand’s SnoWhite Mask, which she claims it makes her skin fair and glowing almost instantly. She also applies LMS Cream twice daily to keep the lines away.

Health-conscious Carmen doesn’t worry about harmful ingredients touching her face since the products are safe for the skin.

If Carmen is happy with Clinelle, the skin care brand feels the same way with its endorser.

She has a healthy glow, observes one of the executives. She’s young and popular. And just as important, Carmen has a good heart.

When she returned to Manila on the heels of Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, Carmen went to her mother studio, ABS-CBN, to help in the network’s relief efforts. Carmen won’t mind helping some more, but she has to go Singapore for her new TV drama series.

But she promised to be back soon in Manila for a new TV project which she’d rather keep under wraps for now.

“Negotiations are underway,” Carmen says with an intriguing smile.

Will the new project team Carmen up with Jericho again?

Again, her lips are sealed. Not that she minds at all. Carmen still gets in touch with Jericho, who she says is so busy “he will only be free in year 2020.”

What’s for sure though, is that Carmen wants to improve her Tagalog “in the next five years.”

This only means one thing: We’ll see more of Carmen’s refreshing face in the next few years. That’s her challenge to herself and her promise to fans.