| Unofficial Website of Ms. Janice de Belen |
| Part 1 JANICE: Life without John Conversation w/ Ricky Lo |
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| Janice de Belen. Unmarried woman. Single. That might soon be the civil status of Janice, estranged wife of John Estrada and now more popularly known less as a drama actress than as co-host of two GMA shows, Sis (with younger sister Gelli) and S-Files (with Paolo Bediones and Richard Gomez), if the court decides in her favor on the annulment case she has filed against John (on the ground of "psychological incapacity" on his part). The annulment petition capped several months of persistent rumor that John has, yes, "gone astray," turning Janice into a "martyr" wife (a "tag" Janice outrightly discards). For a while, the Janice-John marriage was thought to be one of the most "stable" in showbiz, a town not really noted for marital durability, until that ugly rumor popped up. Besides Iggy Boy, 15, her love child by Aga Muhlach, Janice has four children with John � Inah, 10; Moira, 8; Kaila, 6; and Yuan 3. The three girls are studying at Southridge International in Para�aque City, near the subdivision where the brood lives. It�s the same house where Janice and John shared together for many years. On the Monday afternoon we went there, the house didn�t look sad at all, contrary to what we expected. John doesn�t live there anymore, having left a year ago to live (alone?) on his own. Iggy Boy was in school while the four other children had just woken up from their siesta. Mommy Janice just came from a quick trip to the nearby grocery. Even without John, mother and children looked like a happy family. If the kids were missing their father, they were not showing at all. In the following Conversation, Janice talked about her failed marriage and life after John. You look okay. (Smiles) "I�m okay. I�m pretty okay. I�m actually okay! Everybody thinks that I�m not. But I am... okay!" How�s life � without John? (Smiles wider) "Generally, it�s peaceful. During the later part of our life together, during the last nine months or so, masyado nang magulo. Fight dito, fight doon; argument dito, argument doon. Basta, magulong-magulo! There was a lot of lying (on his part) and crying (on my part). When he left home, one year na kaming virtually hiwalay." Was the separation a relief, maybe, for you? "Not really relief; I wouldn�t say it was a relief. But it did free me from a cycle of thinking and suspecting and worrying. In short, it got me off a rollercoaster kind of existence. Natahimik ang buhay ko." What have been the changes in your life after John? After all, you�ve been together for 10 years. "Ten years sana on July 5 last year." Would you say that, in a manner of speaking, you were sleeping with the "enemy" during the last few months of those 10 years? (Laughs) "Oy, not naman �enemy,� ha! In fairness, we have had good times together." Anyway, the major changes in your life... "One major change is, yes, I�m working again � as in working! Other than that... well, nothing much. I just have my life back. Not that John didn�t want me to have a life of my own; in fairness, wala naman siyang mga bawal-bawal.It was just that I devoted my time and attention to my family. I hardly went out with my friends; plain housewife lang talaga ako. I was so scared that if I went out with my friends I might enjoy it and forget my family. So I gave up my friends. Now, I have my friends back, although I haven�t really been going out." You also gave up your career.... "...and my social life. My social life was limited to going out with him and his friends." What about sleeping alone again? Was it a major adjustment? "It has never been a problem with me. I still sleep in the same room � by myself � while the children sleep in their own rooms. I like my space; I have to have that space. But I had my room renovated." Was that part of your "exorcising" John from your life? "It was just coincidence. When he left in April last year, niri-renovate na ang bahay namin." What were the things that you had to undo to sort of erase any memory of John? "Pictures... well, he and I never really kept pictures of ourselves, but only pictures of the kids. Siempre, if you�re an artista, sawang-sawa ka na sa mga pictures mong nakasabit, di ba? Me, I recover fast. Mabilis ako mag-adjust." What about the kids? (Thinks awhile) "Wow! How do I say it? Well, there was a time kasi that John was so busy that he had to have a halfway house somewhere in Quezon City. Traffic was bad from Para�aque to Quezon City, so he even sometimes slept over in his friend�s house so he could be at ABS-CBN for MTB on time. Kung minsan, he would even sleep in the house of my sister Gelli (and husband Ariel Rivera, in Q.C.). He would come home only three times a week, so the kids kind of got used to not seeing him all the time at home." That was the time na okey pa kayo? "The time na I thought okey pa kami. |
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