A whole new world for Janice

She was not called the "Quotation Queen" for nothing. Janice de Belen, by her own admission more learned and experienced now, is getting a second wind in her rudely-interrupted showbiz career (she was a teenager when she got pregnant with Luigi "Iggy Boy" by Aga Muhlach) by becoming Paolo Bediones’ co-host in GMA-7s S-Files (Sundays, 4 p.m.)

It’s a whole new world for this mother of five (the four youngest by estranged husband John Estrada) who made televiewers cry their hearts out long before Judy Ann Santos and Claudine Barretto started battling it out for the Soap Opera Queen title.

Janice was a cinch in her first hosting challenge: a one-on-one interview with ex Aga after he married Charlene Gonzales. Foremost entertainment columnists and critics noticed her intelligent questions and ability to sustain a highly-interesting conversation.

Voila! The formerly weepy Flordeluna was instantly transformed into a gem of a host.

After being reassured that then current co-host Lyn Ching will move to another program, news and public affairs, Janice said yes, she will try to give S-Files that wit and spice her idol Barbara Walters injects her show with.

Timing couldn’t be more perfect. Janice needed this break — this career "distraction" — from her newly-floundered 10-year marriage. She refuses to call it coincidence, this renewed visibility in the public eye. All she knows is Janice has this gnawing pain inside her that says she must hold her chin high in the face of a broken home right in her own backyard.

But even as she admits she’s not past the pain (forgiving is a foregone conclusion), Janice certainly knows how to sweep the negative vibes under the rug.

A few pounds lighter (she credits it to diet) and therefore prettier for all televiewers to see, Janice sports that glow that says, "Look at me now. No one can intimidate me this time (excepts Brad Pitt, she sheepishly qualifies)."

She is pro-divorce, because "I don’t believe in staying in a marriage when you’re both miserable. Otherwise, it will rub off on your children. They don’t deserve to be miserable."

But she‘s not speaking for herself, at least for now.

"Ten years is a long time," she says when asked about plans to legally separate from John. Besides, she qualifies, she’s not a single mom at all, even if John no longer goes to their Parañaque home. He’s still there for their children, the youngest of whom is two.

"We still go out as a family," she relates. And she has not totally given up dreaming of a happy ending. The doors are still open.

"I don’t want to do things that will hurt me later or which I’ll only regret," Janice says. "I’ll wait for things to fall in the right place.

Which is why she swears that although she’s past the anger, "I’m not putting myself in the market."

Thank goodness Janice has better things to do than think of things like the other woman (read: Vanessa del Bianco) and crying until her eyes swell.

She knows all eyes are watching her and she has a tall order to fill.

"The challenge (of hosting S-Files) is different," she admits. "It’s something serious. You can’t fool around with it."

She is not taking things sitting down, either. In the tradition of good talk show hosts like Oprah Winfrey, and, in the local front, Kris Aquino, the wide reader is even reading more.

Janice’s dream interviewees are not showbiz: broadcast journalist Jessica Soho and public affairs TV show host Che Che Lazaro.

The fact that she is one celebrity asking a fellow-celebrity a sensitive question does not faze Janice. She just remembers the golden rule: she won’t ask say, a fellow actress a question she herself won’t like being grilled about.

Or, she will not touch raw nerves by being blunt about powder keg issues. Soft-pedalling is how Janice calls it. In other words, it’s rephrasing the question so the celebrity will open up and feel comfortable abut answering it on nationwide TV.

So, shall we cross our fingers that this time, the self-described "peaceful" but "not completely happy" Janice’s second wind as showbiz luminary won’t be rudely interrupted again? GMA, producer of the revitalized S-Files which has given her the Straight from Janice segment in the show, hopes so.