She used to be the sentimental favorite of most character actors on the set of this top-rating soap in a popular network for, apart from her becoming freshness and riveting good looks, she, too, was highly exemplary and the paradigm of humility and good-naturedness.

But in a matter of months, she has bitingly metamorphosed into a bitching, delusory starlet who was treating her grandma like dirt, along with the other members of the cast.

“Ang nagagawa nga naman ng pagsikat,” objectively comments an aging character actress who’s one of the soap’s regulars in obvious reference to the satiny-skinned starlet, who is now venomously transformed into a despicable character reminiscent of the role that she delineates with aplomb on national television.

“Dati-rati,” she ventures in earnest, “ang bait-bait niya. Sumikat lang at nakalipat sa isang bagong townhouse mula sa squatter’s area na kaniyang kinalakihan, parang possessed na siya ng evil spirits.

“Imagine,” she goes on methodically, “you can’t communicate with her in straight Tagalog anymore dahil lutang na lutang ang dila niya sa kai-Ingles with matching twang.”

Whereas months before, she was definitely everybody’s darling, now with her newly acquired vehicle, along with her newfound popularity by virtue of her attention-grabbing appearance at the top-rating soap, she has dramatically ceased to be the young lady with a terrific PR and is now hideously transformed into a bitching, uncouth persona.

“Bebeso ’yan,” our source elucidates, “pero sabay talikod.

“Na hindi naman ganon dati,” she ventures visibly hurting.

“Sorry, ha?” she comments further. “Extra na lang kasi ako sa paningin niya, kaya I deserve this shabby kind of treatment.”

In one particular occasion, the people on the set were inordinately scandalized with the cantankerously booming voice of the fair-skinned starlet, when she started howling and castigating her hapless grandma for buying her half-brother a brand-new cell phone.

“Nagpabili kasi ng cell phone ang younger brod niya at binili kaagad ni grandma without consulting with her first,” our source reports.

“Without mincing any word, sinabi niyang, ‘Bakit mo binilhan?’

“‘Sino ba ang nagtatrabaho rito?’

“Sana ’yung mga ganyang eksena,” our friend intones, “it should be done in private at silang mag-lola na lang ang nag-uusap.

“Napakalayo ng ugali niya kay _____ [the main lead of the soap opera].

“Bagama’t well-off sila, never did she come to flaunt the things that she has to everyone on the set.”

Anyway, her mom was not a part of the entourage, who moved in with her to the new townhouse they now reside in for she purportedly got caught in a highly scandalous and compromising situation with one of her lovers.

Show business is indeed abounding with intrigues and colorful stories, and this uppity starlet is adding up to its ignominious glitter.

Wary of the press

IF he could have his way, this appetizing hunk and erotically appealing stud-like newcomer would never have attended any showbiz occasion, wherein the working press would have the chance to come see him and inquire in that nosy manner about his scandalously sleazy beefcake photo on the Internet, where he supposedly let it all hang-out.

And for someone, who supposedly comes from a conservative upper-class family, that is indeed a big letdown.

Unfortunately for him, his scalding photo on the Net is today’s most succulent bit of news, he had no other choice but to make a hurried exit before the movie scribes in attendance had the chance to embarrass him with their brazenly jolting inquiries.

For how could he make some stark denials when it is his naked succulent body, all right, that they get to see on the Net?

If it’s any consolation, the naked body that’s brazenly featured in there truly exudes sensuality the natural way.

And to top it all, he’s undeniably well-stocked, too.

Ima Castro is Aida

She used to be very visible during the ’90s but the exciting prospect of making it in a foreign country was so tempting, she had to leave the Philippines in 2001 upon the invitation of the famed Cameron Mackintosh in London.

“I was offered first by IMG Australia for the Asian tour in Hong Kong and Singapore,” she looks back, excitement still written on her face.

Impressed with her God-given talent and intrinsic professionalism, Mackintosh had asked her to join the UK tour of Miss Saigon for two years, where she had been given the chance of a lifetime to travel and live in amazing places, like Manchester, Dublin, Edinburgh, Bristol, Birmingham and Southampton. 2004 was the year she was not bound to forget for that was the time when she returned home to get married for the second time with the same man.

“I had a Philippine wedding in 2004 to the same man who took away my virginity in the year 2003,” she candidly opens up.

“I’m proud to say that I was a vestal virgin when I went to London in 2001 to do Miss Saigon,” she asseverates.

But how did she lose it?

“It happened one drunken night with the man I got married to and divorced four years later,” she adds, matter-of-factly amusement written all over her face.

“Anyway, that part of my life is finished,” she coolly states. “Of course, I had hoped then that it would be for life, but there are things that usually happen for a reason.

“I just woke up one day with my husband telling me quite so coldly that he wanted space.

“I couldn’t comprehend what space he was talking about,” she says smiling, but the sadness is still there. “But there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.

“People just fall in and out of love and it hurts. Really terribly hurts,” she emphatically states.

Since then, she says she has never dated and has remained celibate.

“Anyway,” she says with a valiant attempt to hide her hurt feelings, “I’m back. And hopefully, baka dito ko matagpuan ang hinahanap ko.

“After all, we Filipinos are great lovers, aren’t we?” she smugly states.

Shifting to other equally relevant topics, she says Atlantis Productions has commissioned her to do the lead role in the stage pop-rock musical Aida.

“I’m so proud to do this stage musical since Elton John and Tim Rice composed the music,” she enthuses.

“It’s a tale about forbidden love,” she adds succinctly, “and I play the Nubian princess Aida, who was captured and enslaved by the Egyptian empire and fell in love with Radames, a captain in the Egyptian army, who was betrothed to an Egyptian princess.

“Thay had to face death valiantly together for there was no fear in their hearts for they loved each other passionately.”

Apart from the play Aida, Ima’s coming out with an album featuring some of the songs popularized by Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and other artists but this time, with new arrangements.

Does she intend to stay for keeps?

“Maybe I’ll divide my time here and in England,” she coos. “You see, I have this all-female band in London that specializes in theatrical diva songs.”

Macho lawmaker now favors men over woman

Could it be true that this virile lawmaker, who once was linked to a feisty bold actress has now gone to the other side of the sexual meadow?

For some totally baffling reasons, he separated from his wife of many years and is now said to be having a most scalding relationship with a bold actor, whose career is very much in the doldrums.

Oh, well, what a veritable waste!

He is such a looker and a neat dresser to boot, apart from being intrinsically learned.

Sayang na sayang talaga.

n n

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Mabalos!