MANILA, Philippines - We’ve almost lost Heart in the past and in hindsight, we feel pretty lucky that she made it out just fine. The first time it happened was when she seemed to be at the peak of her career. She had nearly every other billboard from both sides of EDSA, all the way down to SLEX and the ultimate leading lady status on primetime and on the big screen.
To prove it, she starred in what many would remember as the showbiz love story of the decade (though Regine Velasquez and Ogie Alcasid have no doubt taken that title and hung it on their front door for the world to see). And following in the wake of what many would say were some pretty bad personal and career decisions, Heart lost nearly all of it beginning with the guy, while her career began to slip through those delicate fingers, little by little. It was enough to break a girl, really.
The second time it happened was when Annabelle Rama sounded the death knell on her career during a press con held on her birthday last year. Those loud, definitive and most of all, destructive words resounded all throughout the industry and everybody recoiled in absolute shock. Was this really the end of the road for Heart Evangelista?
While nobody would question Mrs. Eddie Gutierrez’s hand in resuscitating her then-flailing career and social relevance (although it would be terribly amusing to see someone try), nearly everybody almost instinctively felt protective of Heart. And how could we not? A single tear rolling from those sad doe eyes all the way down to her pointy little chin is enough to tear a grown man apart. It probably has something to do with the fact that she has one of the most captivating faces we’ve seen yet, which is no small feat considering the sheer amount of pretty faces in the industry. In a sea of mestizas, her face stands out as the soft, sweet chinita that was meant to be sighed and gazed at.
A collective sigh was heaved then when she bagged the title role of Dwarfina, along with the lead role of Virginia in the upcoming Temptation Island remake. The description of the role seems description of the role, it seems to be a fitting one for Heart: a sheltered girl who hopes to gain her independence by getting a set of wheels, and having no provisions for a boyfriend in her master plan.
The role seems as if it were modelled after her, almost, except for the fact that she’s fallen in love again (and the fact that she may have already bought her own wheels). Though she doesn’t seem to be losing her head over it this time, her happiness and openness about her relationship shows that despite broken hearts and lessons learned, she’s still willing to dive headlong into love. It seems as though she’s right back where she was during her last career peak.
It was a little disturbing then to hear her speak of retirement in February’s issue of Uno. She mentioned going back to school and either taking up fashion or studying to become a vet, which at 26 years old, is still quite possible. When her contracts are up, could Heart really be leaving this time? Well, if we do see her go, we’d rather she do it on her own terms, but we’d really rather not.
Next week, she’ll be flying to Brazil with Daniel Matsunaga to see his hometown and spend more time with his family over there. Hypothetically, let’s say that contracts be damned, she finds true happiness there and decides to never come back to showbiz, the industry that’s been known to give her the world and take it back whenever it felt like it, again. Would we really blame her? Could we? After everything we’ve put her through?
Before it happens, again hypothetically, here are a few things we’d like to say: If there’s something we did to hurt you, we’re sorry. Whatever it was that we said, we take it back. It’s not you; it’s us. Just please don’t go. We think we’re in love with you. No, we do love you. Just please stay. Please?
Now close your eyes and pray she falls for it again.