Barbie never gives up

In the summer of 2015, Barbie Imperial became the first evictee of Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) 737. She could have cried a river, but she chose not to.

Called the Doll Along Da Riles ng Albay, Barbie became the first housemate from her batch to book a starring role in a teleserye when she was cast in All Of Me alongside acclaimed actors like Albert Martinez, JM de Guzman and Yen Santos.

Barbie was thrilled to be in a show with Yen since the latter is also a product of the PBB franchise.

?“I was so happy that I was able to work with Ate Yen. She came from the Pinoy Big Brother house just like me and now she’s become a successful actress. I hope to be able to follow in her footsteps. I also consider myself very lucky to have had the chance to learn from Ate Yen and the rest of our co-stars. They were all so nice and talented.”

In All Of Me, she played the role of Apple de Asis and was paired opposite young actor Akira Morishita. Barbie had yet to turn 18 at the time she was working with him, so kissing was forbidden. “My mother won’t allow it,” she said.

Even when Barbie finally turned 18 last July, she says she still looks to her mother Marilyn for advice and support, among other things. According to Barbie, their mother-daughter dynamic hasn’t changed much, even now that she’s an adult.

“Honestly, being 17 doesn’t feel different from being 18. There are still some things I’m not allowed to do, like having a boyfriend. Other girls are allowed when they turn 18 but that’s not true in my case. I still have to obey my mother. My mother forbids me from having a boyfriend and I’m an obedient daughter, so I do what she says. Kailangan, eh!”

Barbie’s obedience hasn’t gone unrewarded. Aside from having her life story featured in an episode of the long-running drama anthology Maalaala Mo Kaya, she was also selected to join the It’s Showtime! girl group Girltrends, the female counterpart of Hashtags.

According to Barbie, she fought hard to be included in the group’s final line-up.

“I worked hard for this. I am actually not a good dancer. I didn’t know how to dance well in the beginning. I was so surprised, and of course, happy as well, when I was told that I made the cut. The audition process was tough for me, but I just did my best to follow the choreography, and I guess my best was good enough.”

She thinks the It’s Showtime! staff put her in the group — despite the fact that at first she couldn’t dance as well as the others — because they recognized that she was willing to work hard to get better.

“They know that there’s always room for improvement. They even compared me to Jameson Blake of Hashtags. He also wasn’t a very good dancer when he first started. But because Jameson has been dancing regularly on the show with the rest of his group mates, he’s better at it now. That’s also what happened to me. I like to think I’ve improved since my early days in the Girltrends,” Barbie says.

She knows that there are many young girls who dream of a career like hers. Barbie advises them to be patient.

“The opportunity to join the Girltrends came when I learned to be patient. If something is meant for you, it will come.” —With reports from Almed Garcia and Julian Mauricio