Cover Story Bea and Gerald are free

MANILA, Philippines – I fell in love fast and really hard.”

It doesn’t take a psychologist or a body language expert to know that Gerald Anderson, 27, means what he just said. We are inside his tent, pitched at the roof deck of The Bell Mansion Hometel in Quezon City. It’s past 7 p.m. but Gerald looks like he had just rolled out of bed. And turns out, we are right on the money. He spent the entire day just sleeping, well-deserved rest for a man who works hard for himself and his family. Right now, he’s juggling tapings for an upcoming TV series and shootings for an upcoming movie; clocking in hours for the Gerald Anderson Foundation, a canine search and rescue group (his Ondoy experience made him realize we lack trained disaster responders); and overseeing operations of RJ Tours, his travel agency. (RJ because that’s his real name. Gerald put it up so his dad, Captain Gerald Anderson Sr., would stay in the Philippines instead of accepting military missions abroad.) Gerald is wearing a basketball jersey and shorts and sporting a five o’clock shadow. He looks good. Even when he couldn’t care less about how he looks. Ge, as he’s called by family and friends, is here for work, and so is Bea Alonzo, 28, his leading lady in the upcoming movie How To Be Yours—and the subject of Gerald’s above-mentioned confession. This teamup is interesting given their turbulent backstory. In case you didn’t know, the two dated for three short but unforgettable months in 2010, and theirs was a love story that sounds, well, straight out of a movie. The gist: Gerald, 1/2 of one of the hottest love teams then, fell in love with Bea Alonzo, legit movie star (she’s Basha for Chrissakes), and the world got very, very, very angry. People took sides. Friendships were put to the test. Someone threatened to throw acid on Bea’s made-for-billboards face. Gerald got death threats. The stress was so intense, the actor ended up crying at a movie presscon, fed up with the tidal wave of hate. It was ugly. Bea and Gerald had two choices: A. Choose love and risk losing their careers. B. Choose their careers and lose each other. You know how they say life is not like the movies? It really isn’t like the movies. Even for movie stars. Especially for movie stars.

They had to choose choice B.

Art Imitates Life

Strange, but half a decade after they made that difficult choice, Bea and Gerald have to do it all over again, this time as their celluloid characters: Anj, a self-taught cook who dreams of working as a chef at a top restaurant, and Nino, a chandelier sales agent ready to settle down. They meet, they fall in love, and the third party in their relationship eventually emerges: Anj’s work, Anj’s big dreams. Director Dan Villegas says he’s toyed with this “Choice A or Choice B” idea since college. He and his friend Mihk Vergara (also a director) used to go around asking people what they preferred post-graduation: “Finding that one love, or your career finding you?” Some, like Dan, got lucky. He found his place in the sun, first as a dependable director of photography, and eventually, as noted director of some of the biggest box-office hits in recent memory: rom-coms English Only, Please and Always Be My Maybe, and romance-drama films The Breakup Playlist and Walang Forever. He also found love in Antoinette Jadaone, herself a celebrated screenplay writer/director. Others, like his How To Be Yours actors, don’t always get the best of both worlds.

A Secret Affair

“Gusto mo ng hopia.” Bea asks. We decline, but she insists. We are inside room 1505, and she’s sitting cross-legged on one of the beds. Bea is wearing a black spaghetti strap top and denim cutoffs, the front section of her hair in curlers, face devoid of makeup. She looks lovely and fragile despite her towering height. Dinner is lumpiang sariwa from Chinatown given by one of her glam team members. In between dainty bites, she says she’s nervous. They’re going to shoot a heavy scene later, one that requires tears and feelings. But for now, this Q & A that requires her to reminisce. Bea isn’t sure what and how much she ought to share about hers and Gerald’s aborted love affair. But when we tell her about the details he revealed (we’ll get to that, promise), she cocked an eyebrow in disbelief (“Sinabi niya talaga ’yun?”), and started really talking.

In April 2010, the two, along with other Star Magic artists, flew to the United States for the annual Heartthrobs concert tour. It was 21-year-old Gerald Anderson’s first time to join the group, and he was stoked about two things: that he was finally of legal age (“Medyo ‘welcome to adulthood’ ako noong panahong iyon eh. Dala dala ko ’yung ID ko tapos pinapakita ko. Yes! Puwede na akong uminom!”), and that he was traveling with his long-time crush Bea Alonzo. They were on hi-hello, small talk terms at that point. If this were a rom-com, you could geo tag their meet cute at Times Square. 2 a.m., the whole group was tipsy, and tourist trap Times Square was miraculously deserted. Bea recalls how Gerald gallantly paid for everyone’s food and drinks at an Irish pub across their hotel prior. “Siyempre pag mas matagal ka na sa industriya, ikaw usually ’yung taya. Eh siya nun, bago pa. Pero binayaran niya lahat. Naalala ko naloka pa siya sa service charge kasi ang laki.” The normally reserved Bea was happily drunk at that point, and wanted to sit and take photos by the shiny red stairs. They both remember Gerald talking to the stern guard on duty, trying to get him to bend the rules. But they have different versions of the outcome. Gerald: “Parang pumayag yata.” Bea: “Hindi umubra! Inaasar asar ko siya nun. ‘Wala ka pala eh!’” Memory, you tricky thing. The happy, drunk adventure didn’t end there. The group decided to go to the Empire State Building after, and only realized that they were hours too early for opening when they got there. The group dispersed. Two were left. Over breakfast at a fast food joint,  Bea and Gerald talked. And realized how, holy sh*t, they could not stop talking. “Laking probinsya ako,” Gerald says. “I’m a small-town boy. For me to get along with a movie star, it was surreal and unbelievable.” Beat. “I fell in love fast and really hard.”

Newsflash, Gerald: Bea liked you back. But she kept her cards close to her chest because she’s heard the line, “I’ve always had a crush on you,” from another actor who tried to woo her in the past. “Ano to, pareho ng linya,” she remembers telling actor Sam Milby with an eye roll. Sam was playing bridge, putting in a good word for Gerald. But Sam didn’t have to work too hard. Bea was already attracted. However, there was that very important fact that Gerald was in a wildly popular and bankable love team, and his reel-life girl was also his real-life girl. She didn’t want complication, thank you verymuch. In Los Angeles, at a grocery store of all places, Gerald finally came clean: He was already single. "Pwede bang manligaw?" In a case of life imitating art, Bea told Gerald to contact her again in three months. “Ginaya ko si Basha sa One More Chance,” she says, giggling. She laughs about it now, but back then she was serious. A three-month wait: out of respect for his ex, so they could be sure about their feelings. “Naghintay pa nga ako eh,” she says, sadly. (So to all the gossips who painted Bea as a heartless b*tch who ruined a fairytale, you may take several seats.) She left the US ahead of Gerald, and minutes upon arriving at her home, someone knocked on her door, bearing red roses from the actor. Bea wasn't kilig. She was pissed. “I did not even give him my number. So nagulat ako. Eh si Milby, kapitbahay ko 'yun dati,” she says a flash of annoyance on her face. “Pinabalik ko ’yung flowers. Tapos sa likod sinulatan ko ng, ‘Hindi ka tumupad sa usapan.’” After that admonition, all communication between them stopped. “Walang usap at all,” Gerald reiterates. “Worst three months of my life. I was going through something. I hurt someone. But I was also looking forward to being with someone. Sh*t. Parang, ‘Oh man. Anong nangyayari sa buhay ko?’" So wait, he did. But at the stroke of midnight after three months, he texted her a looong message basically reminding her it’s the end of their deal. Subtext being: I really, really, really, really, really like you. When Bea got the text, she literally screamed in kilig and showed the message to her PA. But like a typical Pinay, she did not reply immediately, causing Gerald to go on full praning mode. “Mukhang wala na ‘to,” Gerald remembers telling himself. Good things come to those who wait, though. He woke up to a lengthy text message from Bea, and the feeling could be summed up this way: “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Bea says they recently had dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Ortigas and finished a bottle of sake. “Ang ganda kasi namumura ko na siya tungkol sa dati. Nagagalit na rin siya how I reacted in the past, that I had a boyfriend first daw. After nun sabi niya, ‘Tara inom pa tayo. Ito yung mga hindi natin nagawa before.’”

It didn’t take long for them to make it official. But they had to keep it hush-hush, more for Gerald’s sake. At that point, Bea was no longer dependent on a love team, but he was still firmly lodged in one. And they could not afford to agitate the very large, very fervent fan base. “Dates” mostly happened either in his house or hers, just watching Brad Pitt movies over beers. Because they could not be seen together, their phone bills skyrocketed.  “Pag nag-start kami ng 8 p.m., natatapos kami mag usap may araw na. Pero tuloy pa rin yung usap namin,” reminisces Gerald. Sometimes, they would go out, but they had to be sneaky about it. For example, that time they visited a zoo in Tagaytay. “Mauuna ako. Nandito ako sa tigers, nandun siya sa birds. Pero wala rin! Na-chismis pa rin kami na magkasama kami,” Gerald says, shaking his head. Rollercoaster, that’s how Bea describes their short-lived romance. “Pag masaya, nasa ulap. Pero pag bagsak, bagsak talaga.” All the hiding and the ninja moves made her feel like he wasn’t proud of her. “Disenteng babae naman ako, bakit ganun?” On her birthday that year, her boyfriend couldn’t even celebrate with her. How Bea cried. The next day, he picked her up, asked her, “North or South" (she picked north), and off they went to Subic, his hometown. He showed her around the military base where he grew up, took her to a deserted beach where they spent the night hugging and talking under the stars. By daybreak, he had a crazy idea of sneaking into a nearby zoo. “Sabi ko, hindi tayo pwede dun! Maraming tao,” Bea says. But boyfie was being cute, so excited to show her one of the baby tigers near the entrance. “Tapos nung may narinig kaming tao na papalapit, takbo kami pabalik ng kotse. Para kaming mga kriminal.” That last word makes her smile, but the smile doesn't reach her eyes. No matter how hard they tried to keep it on the down low, word got around. “Maraming may ayaw. Maraming nagalit. It was contagious. Even people from ABS,” Gerald says. “I was scared for her. I was scared for me. Pag magkasama kami, okay lang, enjoy kami, I forget everything. Pero once I leave, ayan na naman. Araw araw nasa TV ako or kami. It was really hard.” The world could say whatever and Bea still would have stayed. But when she saw Gerald’s mom being interviewed on TV, expressly approving of his ex, she knew it was a losing battle. “Sobrang close ako sa nanay ko. Kaya pag pamilya na, pag nanay na, ibang usapan na yan.” (Gerald clarifies his mom did not not like Bea. “She just didn’t like the situation.”) When they flew to London for work in November, they agreed to do every couple-y thing they couldn’t do in Manila, an exorcism of what ifs, if you will. “Para pagdating dito, wala na talaga,” says Bea. It was a (bitter)sweet November. The flight home had two legs: London to Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi to Manila. He was only supposed to sit with her till Abu Dhabi, “kasi siyempre may mga Pinoy na na FA,” but he stayed by her side till they landed in NAIA. “Nag iiyakan na kami sa eroplano pa lang kasi alam naming tapos na.” And they did good on their word. Since then, nothing but radio silence on both ends.

Until now.

Freedom, At Last

“I’m not stupid,” Bea says as she carefully applies foundation on her face. It’s almost time to shoot tonight’s heavy scene and the production associate has already knocked twice, a gentle reminder for us to please hurry up. “The moment I said yes to doing a movie with him, I knew na mauungkat ito. The usual me would say no, I’m not that kind of actress. But I don’t know why I said yes. Maybe because I’m very curious to see what would happen,” she says, looking me in the eye. The idea of a Bea-Gerald project has been floated for the past few years, but she never accepted because at the time, she was still with Zanjoe Marudo, and Z, who was there while Bea was getting over G, wasn’t going to be happy about her working with the latter. Now, she’s single. And so is Gerald. Timing, which was a b*tch to them, is finally on their side. Work-wise, at least. Bea’s never been the type to use juicy details of her personal life for promo, and it is surprising to hear her this candid. “All those years ago, I never got to defend myself. I was protecting him,” she says. “It feels weird to be able to talk about this now. Back then I was forbidden to even look at him.”

Every showbiz reporter they’ve encountered throughout the promotion of How To Be Yours has asked them if they were going to rekindle the fire, to give it another shot now that they’re older and wiser, two stars who have proved they can stand on their own outside of a love team. So we don’t. Instead, we ask if we could watch them shoot the big scene tonight. Everyone on set is quiet, just watching the two do what they do best: inhabit imagined skins in order to tell real stories. The tears are nonstop now, the lines a little too real. Six years. I think they waited six years to say these things to each other. But what happens after the movie’s wrap party? Will they give it one more chance? Or will this movie be the final curtain?

I see crumbs on my jeans, remnants of the snack Bea gave me. We can only hopia.

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Photo by PATRICK DIOKNO

Produced by DAVID MILAN

Makeup  by DENISE OCHOA

Hair by BREN SALES