Gwen stays in showbiz even after her & Jeremy’s wedding

Curtain-raisers:

• Has a handsome actor (not so young but not so old) undergone cosmetic surgery? Showbiz-watchers notice a new feature on his face (is it the nose?). What made him change (if, indeed, he did) his looks when the “original” was more than good enough? If he changes his mind, I think it’s too late now to get back his nice old…nose?

• A celebrity couple (showbiz-related) has been estranged for quite a while and the wife is seriously planning to file an annulment of their marriage. Is there a third party? None, according to a Funfare DPA. “The third party is neither a man nor a woman,” clarified the DPA. “It’s something, basta something.” If ever, they would be the next celebrity couple to legally break up. The first couple had their marriage annulled, setting them free from their respective espouses and clearing the way for their civil marriage recently.

* * *

They were two right people meeting at the right place and at the right time. But it wasn’t love at first sight for Jeremy Marquez and Gwen Zamora who are getting married in one of Bohol’s oldest churches, that was partly destroyed by the 2013 earthquake.

“I met Gwen in Oct. 2010,” related Jeremy in a text message from Bangkok where he and Gwen were vacationing over the weekend. “We have lots of common friends. Our group was out for some fun and I remember that we hit it off pretty well. Well, at least, I thought we did, hehehe! We saw each other a couple of times after that. We were just friends then, of course. Then we got busy and we lost contact.”

Because Jeremy, Joey Marquez’s son with his first wife Francesca Siron (now based in the US), was noted to be a ladies’ man like his dad, Gwen admitted in a pocket presscon that when Jeremy first proposed to her, “I didn’t take him seriously. That was in April, a month after we met. Then, he proposed again on Oct. 4, our ‘monthsary,’ last year, complete with a ring. I was convinced that he was serious so I said yes.”

In an earlier interview with Funfare, Jeremy put things in the proper perspective.

“After four years without seeing her,” recalled Jeremy, “we saw each other again in March last year. Like before, we hit it off again but this time we were both single and available, so I fell in love with her and never let her go. I’m not getting any younger,” added Jeremy (he’s turning 37 on Oct. 10 while Gwen turned 26 last Aug. 10) who has had a lot of girlfriends (from showbiz), “so I thought it’s about time I settled down.” 

The choice of date (March 4, 2017) coincides with the sweethearts’ “monthsary” and the church in Panglao, Bohol fits what they describe as “the rustic concept” of their wedding, with the reception at the Amorita Beach Resort also in Panglao.

What Gwen likes about Jeremy is his being cariñoso.

“I thought he was a bad boy,” Gwen told the media guys with a laugh. “Kasi parang ganoon ang image niya. Then, I got to know him and I discovered that he has a big heart. He wants to help people. I call him my Teddy Bear.”

Gwenaelle Tasha Mae Agnese was born on Aug. 10, 1990, to Philippe and Therese Agnese. Her mom is half-Vietnamese/half-Filipino and her dad is a French chef now working at a fine-dining restaurant in City of Dreams.

“I spent my childhood in several countries,” said Gwen, “France, China and Thailand, until we settled down in the Philippines where I started doing commercials (Belo Essentials, Jollibee, Bingo Cookies, etc.).”

Showbiz beckoned. At 18, she was introduced in the Metro Filmfest entry Si Agimat at si Enteng Kabisote, starring Vic Sotto and Bong Revilla, and got a Best Newcomer Supporting Actress nomination. She appeared in two more Kabisote movies, Enteng ng Ina Mo and Si Agimat, Si Enteng at Si Ako.

Even after their wedding, Gwen will stay in showbiz. She has Jeremy’s blessing.

“She loves showbiz,” said Jeremy (who has put his own showbiz career on hold while he ventured into politics; he was a former Parañaque City councilor and failed in his vice mayoralty bid in last May’s elections). “So why would I take her away from it?”

Gwen is a regular cast member of the long-running Kapuso gag show Bubble Gang and is lately seen as the boss of Daniel Matsunaga in Be My Lady, the Kapamilya series with Erich Gonzales (as her boyfriend Daniel’s leading lady).

Asked if Gwen has switched channels, Jeremy said no.

“Gwen is not tied up with any network. She’s still part of Bubble Gang for now but GMA hasn’t really given her any projects for a while so she accepted a guesting in Be My Lady.”

The future Mrs. Jeremy Marquez has done a few indies, one of them Apocalypse Child for which she was nominated for Best Actress in the Luna Awards held Sunday last week for her role as a woman torn between two men?RK Bagatsing as her fiancé and Sid Lucero as RK’s best friend with whom Gwen has an affair that required them to do a love scene on top of a table.

How did Jeremy react to that scene?

“He didn’t watch the movie,” said Gwen, adding in jest, “para wala nang selosan. I myself wouldn’t watch him doing a scene like that with another actress.”

Actually, Jeremy is broad-minded, showbiz that he is who knows the ABCs of the trade.

“No,” he answered when asked if he would put restrictions on Gwen if and when. “I have my reservations but I trust her decisions. Alam naman niya ‘yon.”

(E-mail reactions at [email protected].)