Tweetie still fit & fabulous at 50

First thing the movie reporters asked Tweetie de Leon-Gonzalez when she met them recently, two weeks after she turned 50 on March 2, was, “How do you keep yourself still so fit and fabulous at that age?”

Because she doesn’t look it and she has kept her Supermodel figure, Tweetie must be the envy of other women.

The lunch presscon at the Paparazzi Italian restaurant of EDSA Shangri-La was to introduce Tweetie as the endorser of Organique Acai (pronounced a-sha-yi) Berry, which was introduced in the Philippines eight years ago by Cebu-based couple Elton and Cathy Salimbangon (vice president of Organique, Inc., herself as fit and fabulous as Tweetie) who have built a brand believed to bring wellness, health and beauty.

Married to Jose Ramon Gonzalez (who is into construction; whose father is the  brother of former actor/Congressman Jose Mari Gonzalez, father of Tacloban City Mayor Cristina Gonzalez-Romualdez) by whom she has four children (Sabina, taking up Architecture; Lorenzo, 19, taking up Civil Engineering; Nicolas, 17, just graduated high school; and Alfonso, in grade school), Tweetie exudes an infectious aura that easily makes at ease even people she’s meeting for the first time.

How does Tweetie keep (besides fit and fabulous) that cool-as-a-cucumber disposition that makes people ask if she ever gets angry? How does she cope with stress (just like everybody else, she does get stressed although not as much)?

“I used to be strict,” Tweetie flashed a bedimpled smile. “I think because everybody else, tumatanda na rin ako. Being a mom is a big part of it. Every day, there’s something new, there’s something that you learn. It’s accepting the reality that not everything is within your control. That’s what I try to achieve at home. Huwag na mag-away, hindi kailangan mag-sigawan. Learn how to relax and take some things in stride.

“We are never without stress in this world,” she qualified. “But I am teaching myself to let go of situations I have no control over. Anxiety arrests health and happiness and nothing is worth risking your sanity and well-being. Just pray and lift your worries to heaven. Everything will sort itself out.”

And exercise does help.

“Before, I did sports all the time, until I realized that it was not enough. You need to do gym for muscle toning, you need to do yoga for flexibility, you have to meditate, and you still need to indulge in sport for agility and endurance. I try to do all of them.”

Tweetie said that she used to suffer from acid reflux until she was introduced to Acai a few years ago. In a matter of days, she began to feel better until her acid reflux was cured.

“I found out that the product is also good for your skin,” she added.

What preoccupies Tweetie these days is her jewelry business.

“It’s a small business,” said Tweetie. “I design and manufacture jewelry. I have at a mall in Alabang. I belong to a group called Manila Design Collective composed of fashion designers Rajo Laurel Joey Samson, Rita Nazareno (a bag designer) and Malu Romero (a jewelry designer). We just had just finished a trunk show in Tokyo late last year and we plan to do it in different places in Metro Manila.”

Televiewers probably remember Tweetie as a cast member of the popular TV series Okay Ka, Fairy Ko (which has been made into a movie, with Vic Sotto as lead actor). She quit the show in favor of marriage --- “After a whirlwind courtship,” she blushed. Actually, showbiz is in Tweetie’s blood. Aside from her connection to the Gonzalezes, Tweetie is the niece of director Mike de Leon (“My claim to fame,” joked Tweetie) who is the first cousin of Tweetie’s dad.

“I used to play around the LVN Studios every day; it was like my second home,” recalled Tweetie. “My Uncle Manito (Mike’s younger brother) had a production house inside the studio and that was how I got into a few commercials,” adding, “my first foray into showbiz was in my Uncle Mike’s Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (a classic comedy). I was an ekstra in the airport scene. I didn’t even act, I didn’t deliver a line, I simply stood there. If you blinked, you would miss me. It’s so funny, it’s an intelligent movie, very well-made, my all-time favorite.” (Trivia: A good part of LVN Studios along P. Tuazon St. in Quezon City is now occupied by a sprawling condo building.)

Meanwhile, let’s excuse Tweetie while she takes her second serving of Acai for the day.

(Note: Tagged as “The World’s Number One Superfood,” Organique Acai Berry is available in the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong and, recently, in the USD. It’s avalable at Mercury, Watsons and other leading drugstores and supermarkets nationwide. Recommended dosage is 30 ml. per day, best taken  in the morning before breakfast.)