Echo has found his ‘legal wife’

MANILA, Philippines - A few days leading up to his wedding yesterday, Jericho Rosales was already a picture of a proud and excited groom.

“No wedding jitters,” The Legal Wife actor told The STAR. He had a slight feeling of regret though, owing to not being more hands-on in the preparation for his nuptials to model-TV host Kim Jones.

“I really just wish I had more time for the preparation but things happen,” he added.

Jericho had to juggle taping two soaps, The Legal Wife and a Malaysian series, flying in and out of the country for the last four months. He even had to postpone his honeymoon due to his tapings for the ABS-CBN teleserye.

But no matter, looks like one of showbiz’s former eligible bachelors, who once romanced some of the most beautiful in the industry, is doing more to prepare for the lifelong marriage ahead.

“As a man who’s gonna get married, I think that’s the first thing you have to deal with — the part ‘for better or for worse.’ You have to focus on the ‘for worse’ because things are going to get worse,” he said.

“Our skin will sag, our breath will smell, we will lack time for each other, whatever, all the negative things you can say. But we have to get ready for that because we won’t live for our own. As an individual, we live for someone else. We live in this life because, you know, we have a purpose, we have to live for someone. When we share that life with someone, whatever it takes, you have to stand strong on that.”

This is one of the lessons, he hopes viewers will get out of his series, where he plays the unfaithful husband Adrian (with Angel Locsin as the wife Monica and Maja Salvador as the mistress Nicole).

 â€œI personally accepted this role because, in my life, while I was growing up, I saw a lot of broken families. Yes, it involves love scenes. In fact, in my whole career, I’ve done the most number of kissing scenes in this series.

“But for me, I’m on a mission… That’s why I’m enjoying Legal Wife, although it’s not that easy to do, (because) you’ll see the consequences, the hardships of a woman betrayed and how the situation has become twisted, that in the end, all you can do is accept it, life goes on… But the most important part of it is what happens in between, how messed up the situation is.”

Jericho said his Fil-British bride (who grew up in Australia) has been the most supportive as always. “Kim is very open-minded. Before I accepted the show, I told her this is what’s gonna happen, and she said, ‘Push (through with it)’ because she knows the reason why I accepted it.

“Sometimes, when I call her up, ‘Babe, grabe na naman yung kissing scene namin, she’d say, ‘It comes with (the series), you knew that from the beginning.’ She’s constantly reminding me that it’s okay. She’s like that but,” he added, laughing, “she avoids watching some of the (intimate) scenes because of course, like any girl, maybe she doesn’t want (to entertain any thoughts) that it might happen to her.”

But Jericho vows to be faithful. “I’m glad this is happening in this show before I get married. Lesson first… I never want to be in (Adrian’s) position. Happy na ako sa isa,” he added.

Asked how Jericho intends to stay away from temptation in real life, he said, “I run away, I use my legs. I really use my legs to run away.”

“But yeah, sadly (infidelity) happens. What causes it is lack of foundation. Me, as a Christian, Jesus is my foundation, if I fear God, then I fear hurting someone,” he said.