Nikki Gil: I'm not changing image

MANILA, Philippines - She’s known as one of showbiz’s resident good girls, making her a natural fit for the ideal female lead mold. But she’s now exploring unfamiliar territory, relishing her first mean girl role in Mundo Man Ay Magunaw, the new daytime teleserye on ABS-CBN. Is Nikki Gil starting to change image?

“Highly unlikely,” the 24-year-old actress, host and singer says with a laugh. “I really don’t do much soaps. The last time was two years ago with Mula Sa Puso. I do more theater. But that role is what I’ve been looking for. As an artist, you look for things you’ve never done before, things that are new, and the kontrabida role is that.”

Describing her character as “pretty evil” that “even I tell myself, my God, that’s so wrong,” she’s, nevertheless, enjoying the novelty of the experience. “It’s consuming. It’s fun! I mean the sensation is very new as an artist, and I’m enjoying the process. It’s just a role. It’s not like I’m compromising anything (my beliefs and principles). It’s not like I’m like that person in real life.”

She neither looks as it as some stepping stone towards more daring projects. “I see it as another facet, not really a goal to go somewhere, but just another side of my craft.”

With the good girl image firmly in place for Nikki (no scandals, to speak of), doesn’t she feel encumbered by the pressure to always live up to it and that whatever unexpected thing she does might be taken against her?

“Yeah, there’s a certain amount of pressure to it, because people have different standards of what a good girl is. When you kind of fall into the category of what people think of a good girl, they have a preconceived notion of the kind of person that you should be, and when you do something that doesn’t fit into their standards, automatically you’re not a good girl already. It’s hard. But you know, it’s not like I’m pretending I’m not. I really am not wild. That’s me.”

It isn’t hard to tell that Nikki isn’t just spontaneous, but also cerebral in her answers. However, she groped for an answer when asked what could possibly be the wildest thing that she pulled off in her life. Then again, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise for someone who’s already even very conscious as to what impression she makes on the person she meets for the first time.  

“The most daring would may be my being with Billy (Crawford),” she finally answers, “because from the onset, people were shocked. They thought, ‘Why? She’s supposed to be with, I don’t know, a pastor or something.’ Maybe that. But even that, I don’t think that’s (daring at all) because people fall in love, and you can’t dictate the heart what it’s supposed to feel.”

The international singer and Nikki met on the set of the Pinoy Dream Academy. That they clicked so well, despite their disparate backgrounds, is something that even surprises Nikki. “May ligawan naman, pero may alas siya kasi he was someone I liked already. He was my crush, even when he wasn’t in the Philippines yet.”

We all know about how their four-year relationship has progressed so far, we know about the purity ring, and how respectful Billy has been of the things that Nikki believes in, even at the risk of their relationship being called boring, and for that, Nikki says she’s lucky to have Billy. “He’s very patient with me, even my parents tell me, not to take it for granted,” Nikki adds. 

Nikki admits that they’re at the point of their relationship when they talk about getting married or not, and individually, they’re preparing for the future, saving and investing, but marriage isn’t happening anytime soon. 

Despite how smooth-running her relationship is, it has ironically been a source of intrigues about her. “I’m a very private person, it’s the only thing that I’ve shared with the public so it’s an easy target.”

While she understands that intrigues come with the territory, it doesn’t mean she’s become thick-skinned not to feel anything. In fact, she took a Twitter break “because at some point, it started to affect me. I took a 444-day break, it was detoxifying. It had gotten too personal, I think the Internet made the world think small, or too close (for comfort), you hear opinions you couldn’t care less about, but you still hear them, and you get affected already.

“At some point, I would go home crying, asking why can’t people judge me for my craft and not my personal life? People can get really mean and personal online, they say malandi ka, maitim ka, may attitude problem ka, akala mo kung sino ka, tapos blind items left and right. From scratch, they fabricate things. And people online, you don’t know who they are, since they are hiding behind some username. But if you pay attention to these people, you kind of give them the power, that their opinion matters. If you react, talo ka. If you read it, talo ka. The only solution is to be strong.”

She says that while Billy hates social networking with a passion, he was among those people who encouraged her to resume her online presence. 

“I like communicating with friends and fans, and it’s my source of quick information on books, music, but you just really need to sift through what you read.”

Nikki has also started a blog, Giltheworld.com. “All positive posts kasi masyado maraming negative. Even that took some time. I had a lot of friends, encouraging me to just do it, don’t mind the haters, since you love to write, go! I enjoy writing. My course (at Ateneo de University) was English literature, so a lot of writing was involved.”

Meanwhile, Nikki, who also appears in ASAP and on MYX as VJ, is celebrating her seventh year in showbiz this 2012. Nikki broke out via a softdrink commercial, wherein she was seen singing her heart out while giving away free softdrinks. She was discovered for the commercial while singing at her church.

Nikki says that whenever she feels helpless or defeated, she tries to “go back to the core, why I am here, because I’m doing what I love.”

She doesn’t believe what others say, that good girls finish last, or that having maintained that image all these time will put her in a box and limit her as an artist. “Good girl, bad girl, parang whatever is in your heart, that’s what gonna happen. I’ve always believed that what God has planned for me, it’s a good future, it’s a prosperous future.”

And the year is starting out great for her after a productive 2011, the highlight of which was taking the lead in the musical Sweet Charity.

“I’m very happy how the year is starting. I really love (the teleserye) that I’m doing. I love my role, I embrace it.

“I wanna do something again for theater. I find it therapeutic. It is so good for the soul. (I hope to do) maybe an album because I miss singing. Other than that, I’m very happy at where I’m at.”