Kapamilya actor Markus Paterson has maintained a good co-parenting relationship with his ex-partner Janella Salvador for their two-year-old son Jude Trevor. Fatherhood has also changed him as a person and he has learned a “newfound respect and love for my parents” since becoming a parent himself.
On the sidelines of the recent media conference for his upcoming iWantTFC’s series Teen Clash, he told The STAR how hands-on he is as a dad.
“Hands-on when I can be. Usually, it’s a split between the both of us (Janella). When he is with his mom, she’s hands-on with him. When he is with me, I’m hands-on with him. We’re co-parenting very well. It’s a good team and this year has been going great so far.”
Becoming a father in his 20s has changed him “a lot,” he said. “Siguro when I was starting in the Philippines, I was really not responsible. I was having fun. I was enjoying myself a little bit too much because I moved here when I was 17.”
“But it really set my priorities ahead and now everything I do, all the work I do, it’s all for Jude. (It’s) his future that I’m trying to build, along with his mother. So yeah, it changed me lot,” he added.
The greatest lesson he has learned since becoming a parent is having “newfound respect and love” for his parents because he is now experiencing how to be in their shoes. He elaborated, “Because now that I’m going through raising a kid, (I’ve) become a father, I appreciate what my parents did. ‘Coz growing up as a kid, you don’t really like, ‘She’s always mad at me, they’re going through so much.’ You don’t see what they’re going through behind the scenes of a parent.”
“Now that I’ve go(ne) through it myself, (parenting) is giving me this newfound love for my family, my parents. Just to see what they went through raising me kasi makulit akong bata siguro, eh. That’s pretty much it,” he furthered.
On his co-parenting setup with Janella, he shared that he and the actress would talk every day about Jude. He stressed how communication is very important to their co-parenting style. “We really, really are in good terms. She’s happy, I’m happy. That’s the only thing being important, being parents. If you are not happy, how can you be good parents to your son or your daughter? But so far, it’s been absolutely amazing.”
When asked if he will also support Jude if he opts to enter the showbiz industry in the future just like his parents, Markus said he will leave it up to Janella. “It’s up to the mom siguro but I don’t… It’s up to him honestly. Right now, he is a bit too young. Feeling ko to be like… (if I) push (him) towards the industry, if he wants to join the industry, I want him to be able to at least make that decision himself. But yeah, it’s up to the mom. If she wants, then go lang naman ako kung saan siya masaya, I’m also happy.”
In the Teen Clash series, Markus plays Jude, a dashing rockstar and Zoe’s (Jayda) former singing partner, who is now a famous and established artist. Coincidentally, his name in the series is the same with that of his baby. “It’s part of the book talaga. It was just a coincidence lang. I mean it’s a nice coincidence because it’s my first actual project of the year. It’s a good way to start the year.”
“It’s exciting to play Jude. It’s strange, it’s weird but it’s fun, it’s gonna be fun,” he said of his character.
Teen Clash is an adaptation of Ilyn Anne Danganan’s hit Wattpad story and stars Aljon Mendoza, Andrea Abaya, Luke Alford, Gail Banawis, Kobie Brown, Zach Castañeda, Fana, Ralph Malibunas and Bianca de Vera.
It is megged by Gino Santos and produced by iWantTFC and Black Sheep. It streams for free starting March 17 on the iWantTFC app (iOs and Android) and website (iwanttfc.com). A new episode drops every Friday night at 8.
Markus was able to relate to his character because they are both musically inclined. His music choices include Jason Mraz, Hozier, Daniel Caesar, Jack Carlos and Mac Miller.
“I don’t have a specific genre of what I want in music. I just love good songs, good lyrics and good beats,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Markus spent last Valentine’s Day with his son. He shared, “My Valentine’s Day was amazing. I spent the whole day with my son… Enjoy kami sa park. Lumabas pa kami and we went swimming. We really had a good time.”
When queried if he is ready to enter into a new relationship, he answered, “Maybe not now. Maybe not for the next couple of years. I just wanna focus on myself, on my work, because of my son. It’s more important. I just wanna be a good father and a professional actor here in the industry.”