Happy being single

MANILA, Philippines - She’s not bitter, hurting or traumatized. But Rachelle Ann Go has pretty much set her mind on not entertaining romance — at least, for now.

“I have no love life, although maraming nagtatanong bakit parang lagi kang kinikilig? Pero wala talaga. I’m just happy. It’s the kind of happiness that you can’t explain. I’m looking at it as time for myself. I can say that I’m happier (being single),” said Rachelle, 25, before a presscon promoting her first theater project Disney’s Little Mermaid by Atlantis Productions.

Since her last relationship ended mid of this year — quite abruptly and controversially at that as widely reported — there have been guys in and out of showbiz sending feelers, but she said, “’Pag meron pong attempt kina-cut off ko na.”

She said that she has long gotten over the heartbreak. How swiftly she moved on from the split even surprised her friends. It’s because she has taken a philosophical attitude towards it, believing that if things are meant to be, then they’re meant to be.

She added, “I think you’ll feel it if you’re ready for a relationship, but for now, I’m not.”

Nevertheless, she said she has learned a lot of things from her previous relationships (with Christian Bautista, Gab Valenciano and John Prats). One most important lesson for her is that a relationship should be founded on friendship. Don’t date romantically right away, she said.

Rachelle also looked back on the seemingly back-to-back issues she had to deal with a few months back. She acknowledged them as the toughest she encountered in her entire showbiz career. She’s referring to her breakup with Prats and the controversy linking her to the very married Cesar Montano.

“If I think about it now… it’s hard to imagine that in just a matter of a few weeks, there was an issue with an (ex-boyfriend) and there was another guy involved…sunod-sunod, grabe yung pinagdaanan ko. I got really affected by it and also because I saw that my family was already getting hurt. Pero ang talagang nagpapatibay sa kin ay yung faith ko. I’m also very thankful for the strength and comfort na ibinigay ng family and friends ko.”  

Still and all, the whirl of emotions she went through because of these experiences came in handy in tackling her theater project Little Mermaid. 

“Halo-halong emotion ang Little Mermaid, joy, love, heartache… Lahat ng napagdaanan ko sa buhay, nakatulong din yun sa pag-acting para maging totoo,” Rachelle said.  

While Little Mermaid is very much a fairytale telling the story of a mermaid who exchanges her voice to save her Prince Charming, Rachelle can relate more to the story of Ariel’s big dreams: Her wanting to have legs and experience what it’s like to be part of the human world.

“For me, Little Mermaid is a story about a dream, and I can relate to it because I also had a dream. If Ariel wanted to be human, I wanted to sing. She wanted to find her place in the human world, me I wanted to find my place in showbiz. And yes, I’ve found my place now.”

She was, nonetheless, asked hypothetically if and when it comes to a point wherein she’ll be asked to give up her voice, what would be that one thing that would make her do so.

Rachelle said, “I wouldn’t really know because my voice is a gift from God. I don’t want to sacrifice my voice para sa sarili kong kagustuhan.”

Disney’s The Little Mermaid is the first-ever Asian production of the Broadway musical. It also features in the cast Erik Santos as Prince Eric, Jinky Llamanzares as Ursula, OJ Mariano as Sebastian, Calvin Millado as King Triton, Lee Viloria as Flounder, Ikey Canoy as Scuttle, Felix Rivera as Flotsam, Jamie Barcelon as Jetsam and Raymond Concepcion as Grimsby.

(For details, call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or Atlantis Productions at 892-7078 or 840-1187. You can also log on to www.atlantisproductionsinc.com. Little Mermaid runs at the Meralco Theater until Dec. 11.)