Zsa Zsa: We’ll just elope!

The so-called “destination wedding” is popular among celebrities (with money, I hasten to add) but Zsa Zsa Padilla is not keen on jumping onto the bandwagon. Still fresh in Zsa Zsa’s memory when she faced the movie writers for her new movie, Bes and the Beshies, the other day was the fabulous wedding of Drs. Vicki Belo and Hayden Kho in Paris, graced by showbiz A-listers including Zsa Zsa and her beloved Conrad Onglao.

“Destination weddings are fun,” noted Zsa Zsa, “but Conrad and I would rather have a quiet wedding. Sabi ko nga sa kanya, magtanan na lang tayo para hindi magastos. We’ll just elope na lang, have a simple wedding before a judge and that’s it. Ayoko ng mabongga; I want it simple and solemn. What’s important is the exchange of vows. We can be practical and use the money to invest in business.”

No wedding date yet, although there were reports that the sweethearts planned to have it in Italy, until it fizzled out and they broke up and reconciled after only seven weeks.

Without digging up the past (you know, let bygones be bygones), all Zsa Zsa shared was how they reconciled. It must have been fate that led them back to each other.

“We happened to be at a mall at the same time,” related Zsa Zsa. “Before we knew it, we were talking to each other and it lasted for more than two hours. Then we just decided to give our relationship another shot.”

If you recall, Zsa Zsa left home to report to her ABS-CBN Sunday show ASAP and never came back, leaving behind everything that Conrad had given her including the 3-carat emerald-cut engagement ring Conrad gave her two years ago.

“Here,” Zsa Zsa waved her finger with the ring, “I got it back. We even had a Friendship Ring,” adding with a laugh, “Friendship Ring daw, o! Ano, mga bata? Hahahaha!!!”

 The “second time around” proved challenging to Zsa Zsa because she had never reconciled with anybody after a break-up.

“That’s why I was hesitant at first. After our break-up, I had to undergo healing sessions because there was a lot of the past that I had to come to terms with.”

Is she completely healed?

“Well,” said Zsa Zsa, “I think so…I hope so!”

Like most, if not all, women, Zsa Zsa admitted that she is “historical” (but not “hysterical”).

“We women are fond of going back to the past, binabalik-balikan namin ang nakaraan, we dig up everything, so it’s hard to forgive and forget. But I realized that once you have forgiven, kapag pinatawad mo na, you should forget.

“Actually, I came up with a method that applies only to and for myself; I made my own rules that I promised I wouldn’t break. That is, no more reference to the past. I practiced that for a long time. Forget the past and move on, at nasanay na ako.”

In Bes and the Beshies (opening nationwide on Oct. 18), produced by Cineko Productions and directed by Joel Lamangan from a screenplay by Ricky Lee, Zsa Zsa co-stars with Ai-Ai delas Alas. Carmi Martin and Beauty Gonzales. Their roles are described as “woman empowering,” with Ai-Ai as an ideal single mom, Carmi as a mistress, Beauty as a family breadwinner, and Zsa Zsa as a martyr mom who will do anything to keep her family from falling apart.

True-to-life?

“Of course, not!” said Zsa Zsa. “My character is a dedicated housewife na na-losyang na (past her prime), who loves cooking.”

Does she cook for Conrad?

“He cooks better than I do,” conceded Zsa Zsa. “But we both love to eat and we like to do the same things. Conrad is really sweet. He loves to give me even little things, pati shampoo binibili niya for me!”
It helps that their respective children are okay with the relationship.

“My children respect my decision in the same way that I respect their own relationships.”

At the presscon, the LOVEY tattoo on Zsa Zsa’s left upper arm was highly visible. It’s her and her last beloved Dolphy’s term of endearment.

Remember the song Through The Years that Zsa Zsa, on the brink of tears and her voice trembling with grief, sang at the ABS-CBN tribute to Dolphy just before he was buried?

Reminded about it, Zsa Zsa’s eyes nearly welled up with tears.

“Bakit ka nagpapaiyak?” she whispered. “Love will always be there even if the person is not around anymore. Sa amin na lang ‘yon. Everybody misses him, not just me. Time will come when we will see each other again; it’s just that he’s in another world, another realm.”

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