Marian Rivera is living her dream

February 5 ------ The first is always special and what better way to present the very first episode of Fast Talk with Boy Abunda, than to have a special guest in the person of GMA Network’s Primetime Queen Marian Rivera.

Marian graced the pilot show and she gamely took the two-minute Fast Talk challenge with responses that resonated with her true persona of being outspoken, witty and vivacious. The actress revealed that she never dreamed about achieving fame or accumulating wealth when she was younger. All she wished for was to have a complete family she could call her own. And now that she is blessed with a loving husband in Dingdong Dantes and two beautiful children Zia and Sixto, Marian is indubitably living her dream. “Sinasabi ko talaga na ang dream ko is to have a complete family which I didn’t really have before,” began Marian who was born in Spain and left under the care of her maternal grandmother after her parents — Francisco Javier Gracia, a Spaniard, and Amalia Rivera, a Filipina — divorced when she was three years old.

Her mom brought her to the Philippines and had to leave her due to work commitments abroad. “Pero ngayon, gumising ako every morning na nandyan ‘yung dalawang anak ko at si Dong. I said, Lord, salamat sa biyaya at pagpapala.” Marian cannot also be thankful enough for her rosy acting career. She will never forget how the GMA Network’s adaptation of the popular Mexican series Marimar catapulted her to stardom.

In the show’s Talk segment, Boy showed Marian the bunch of puka shell necklaces she wore in Marimar. “Ang Marimar kasi ang unang nagbigay ng pagkakataon na ipakita ‘yung talento ko sa GMA at sa mga tao kaya tuwing nakikita ko ‘yan (necklaces) o kaya sabihin sa akin ang gumiling (ala my character Marimar), OK ako doon. Sobrang palaging flashback sa akin si Marimar. Si Marimar talaga ang nagbigay sa akin ng maraming oportunidad na makilala ng tao,” she ruminated.

It was also in Marimar where she and Dingdong initially worked together but both felt absolutely nothing — zero sparks the first time they met. Marian said they were both focused on their respective careers that time. “We were both serious with our work in Marimar because I think it was his big break in a soap while I was also concentrated on my character. Medyo hindi kami magkasundo sa Marimar, hindi kami nagpapansinan. Maldita kasi ako, hahahaha!” It was only towards the end of the series that they became “slight friends,” as Marian put it.

She also recalled how she hated Dingdong while they were taping for Dyesebel in Palawan. “Sabi n’ya sa akin, ‘Ang suplada mo naman, tine-text kita bakit hindi ka nag-re-reply? Siguro, naka-prepaid ka lang!’ I got mad at him because what he said was true that I was only using prepaid hahahaha,” she amusingly narrated. “Nasa isla kasi kami noon ng Palawan, so I already bought a lot of prepaid cards and whenever I would run out of load, I would go to the back of the set and start scratching the cards, hahahaha, that’s why I was so affected by what he said. But I promised myself to get a line (postpaid) once I got my salary. Kaya ayun naka-line na ko.”

Eventually, the two fell in love, got married and started raising a family.

Source: philstar.com