What today’s loveteams can learn from Richard & Dawn

MANILA, Philippines – Before KathNiel and JaDine, there was CharDawn. Today’s romantic tandems can learn a thing or two about staying power and enduring appeal from the team-up of Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta.

For one, with or without an off-screen romance, or in the case of CharDawn, one that didn’t work out, it doesn’t mean the end of their love team. The “fantasy” can live on because of onscreen chemistry, and that’s something that cannot be faked.

Richard and Dawn’s tandem, which was born in the ‘90s and spawned a series of hit movies, will be back via the new Kapamilya primetime family drama You’re My Home premiering on Nov. 9. They will play an estranged couple, whose marriage gets torn apart after their youngest son goes missing. Years later, a teenager who resembles their son reappears in their lives. Can their family start to mend the broken pieces and become whole again after living separate lives for so long?

During a presscon last Wednesday, the media revisited Richard and Dawn’s past as a couple, and how despite enjoying family life with different partners, they have managed to keep the friendship, which has come in handy in attracting projects, as a love team, to this day.

Richard said, “Siempre, kami ni Dawn when we were young, we had a boyfriend-and-girlfriend relationship, it was a very intense one. But when that ended, we have remained friends, even after we had our own families and partners in life.”

Dawn recalled, “We got to know each other when we were already both in showbiz. The first time we worked together was in a commercial; it wasn’t in a movie or a TV show. We have the same friends, we move around the same circle, even up to now. Feeling ko, malalim na yun, dun pa lang. Ganung klaseng history malalim na yun, (with that history, the friendship goes deep) even without having had a relationship.”

The actress added, “I’m just very grateful that in spite of the hurt that we went through before — (ininda ko yun ng dalawang taon, di mo ba na-feel? Dawn jokingly asked Richard) — even if we went through that episode, let’s just be thankful that we were able to shift back to being friends again.”

Richard said, “(It was) because we have a connection through our friends… eventually we got to bump into each other always and got to say hi to each other. Then after that, we became comfortable again with each other.”

They remembered their “reunion” project after many years of not having worked together, which was for another network.

Dawn said, “I remember our first project together, I felt awkward.” And it wasn’t because of their shared past, but because they had to play siblings. “It was weird.”

“But I think it was a good entry (point for the team-up),” said Richard.

Then Walang Hanggan came along in 2012, and one project came after another. They were last paired in the Star Cinema movie The Love Affair with Bea Alonzo.

As for their reception of their partners to the successful revival of their “love team,” Richard said that with his wife Lucy, it has not posed a problem because “she has always been a fan of Richard and Dawn, she loves watching our movies, she enjoys seeing me with Dawn in teleseryes. She’s like that. Even with our fans, even though they know we have our respective families, the fantasy for them lives on.”

As for Dawn, who’s married to Davao del Norte Rep. Anton Lagdameo, she said, “Anton is not really a movie fan. With Anton, he’s able to differentiate my onscreen persona and what I am at home, so yung nakikita niya na ginagawa namin ni Richard onscreen, he appreciates that in a level that is a kind of friendship or if you want to call it a kind of a love team, or a kind of fantasy pairing…that is somewhat special to me and Richard. And he’s not bothered with that because…he’s secure with the fact na iba naman kami, well, first of all, I married him. So relaxed na siya doon. He looks at it as a product. Our onscreen (team-up) is a product that is appreciated by audiences.”

The two were asked by the press to provide their own definition of home. “Home is where the heart is — that’s very true. Me, I was a bachelor for a long, long time, and the time I got married, and especially when Juliana (now 15) came to our lives, that was when I really felt the love of a family. That’s really what home is, with Juliana, with my wife. But aside from that, there are many facets of my life, like I have my sports, and when I have my friends, they also feel family to me. Basically, what home is where the family is.”

Dawn, on the other hand, said, “When it comes to home, my description of that is, wherever you find, not just the physical, but mental and emotional connection with someone, that is where you feel at home and most comfortable. It doesn’t have to be a spouse or a lover. Sometimes, you can feel this way with friends.

“When you go through life, you realize that there are some places you go to that are just a shell. It’s just a house, but there’s no warmth. Then, you also realize later on that there are people na pagkasama mo sila, you feel that you belong together, you belong to the same tribe. It’s easy (for me) to differentiate that now,” said Dawn, referring to people who are bound to stay from those merely passing through your life.

Meanwhile, Dawn said that it might take a while before she’d be able to work again with Richard after You’re My Home, especially since Richard has decided to re-enter politics, running for mayor of Ormoc City in the 2016 elections. Richard tried to run for senator in 2007, as congressman for the fourth district of Leyte in 2010 but got disqualified due to residency issues (and was replaced by his wife Lucy, who won and holds the elective post to this day) and as mayor of Ormoc City in 2013.

Richard said, “I didn’t have any plans to run in the next elections. I decided only on the night before the last day of filing (last week). Sacrifices have to be made as that was really a big decision on my part. Somehow, I feel sad kasi mababawasan yung magiging trabaho ko here in showbiz, at the same time, we’ll never know what will happen kung palarin ba ako maging Mayor ng Ormoc one day,” said Richard, whose platform of governance will focus on anti-corruption, peace and order and tourism.

He explained that his decision was prompted by the fact that no one from his wife’s party will run for Mayor of Ormoc. “Ormoc has the biggest voting population, and nobody wants to run as mayor. I took the challenge, hindi pwede iwanan si Lucy na walang kakampi na mayor sa Ormoc.”

According to You’re My Home director Jerry Sineneng, Richard’s decision will not affect the airing of the series. The 40-day campaign period allotted for local candidates will commence next year. They are also required to follow fair election practices.

“We have to abide by the law, or by the rules. I don’t think it will be cut short. Buo pa rin ang kwento, buo mabibigay yung kwento before the deadline,” he said. “Totoo yung sinabi niya. Throughout our taping (we have taped episodes good for 10 weeks of airing), I asked him around 10 times if he was running, and he said, no direk. It’s really true that he just decided the night before.”