1981 - Baby boy, along with parents fly to Bahrain where his father, a military general is based. Mom takes care of the children and the house.
1983 - Four years old. Little boy goes to the beach at 4 a.m. to catch crabs with his spear. He catches a crab almost a foot wide. He plays with plantation workers. One time, he is hiding in the bathroom, playing hide-and-seek when he accidentally steps on a skateboard and falls. He is rushed to a doctor where he gets seven stitches. His father gets really angry and hits him really bad.
1984 - Little boy learns to play soccer but since he is young and small compared to the other players and looks "different," he is often bullied. His father starts to train him, teaching him how to box by letting him hit the solid wall of their house. His father often beats up the little boy when he wouldn’t punch as hard as Muhammad Ali.
1985 - Bullying from his schoolmates and battery from his father persist. One day, little boy’s father tells him to fight back. Little boy challenges the biggest bully to a fight. The little boy’s face is struck but he manages to fight back by kicking the bully in his groin. Little boy is never harassed again and bully’s voice rise an octave higher as a result of the kick.
1986 - Little boy’s mother separates from his father. She comes back to Manila with little boy and his youngest brother. Single mother sets up a tailoring shop.
Little boy feels happy with other kids on the street. He takes a bath in the rain, butt naked. He plays with the helpers in the tailoring shop.
One day, a man enters their shop to have his suit adjusted and sees the little boy. He takes one long look at him and asks where his mother is. Little boy points to where she is. Man approaches mother and says, "My suit is small. By the way, will you marry me?" This started the long courtship of the man and the little boy’s mother.
1987 - Little boy remembers walking or riding a bicycle to his school to "save money."
1989 - Little boy is in the fourth grade. His entrepreneurial skills start to manifest. His allowance is P10, he saves half of it to give back to his mother while he buys comic books with the other half. One time, he cut portions of Superman and combined it with Spiderman. He sells it to his classmate for P5,000. He would have gotten away with it had not his classmate discovered there wasn’t any Spiderman vs. Superman comic book.
1994 - Boy is now a teenager studying at the OB Montessori in Greenhills. He commutes everyday from his house. The "in" thing is Levi’s jeans. He goes to a tiangge shop and buys a fake pair, not reading the brand tag that instead of Levi’s, "Live’s" was written on it. Upperclassmen tease him no end. That same year, people from Levi’s go to their school looking for models. Someone asks him if he would like to model for Levi’s. He is shocked and couldn’t say anything. Levi’s thinks he is playing hardball. He gets a good deal as a result. Every week, besides getting a talent fee, he gets the latest, most expensive Levi’s jeans for free.
This is also the year that boy meets his current manager. His neighbor, actor Jake Roxas invites him to gimmicks in Makati. He is first approached in Friday’s restaurant but he politely refuses the offer to try commercials. But for five straight weekends, he sees the same guy. Finally, he agrees and lands almost right away a stint as a model for Genre and is paid P10,000. He photocopies the cheque and goes on a shopping spree with his family.
1995 - I see this boy with Jake Roxas in Giraffe, the in-place of the moment. I am with my friend Dina Bonnevie.
1995-1998 - Print and TV commercials start pouring in. Bench, Rexona, Cloud 9, Johnson’s and Johnson’s, Maggi, Storck etc. Young man is starting to get recognized everywhere.
1998 - ABS-CBN Talent Center calls young man’s manager and asks him to join its roster of artists. He is introduced as part of the Star Circle Batch 3. It is also at this time that he is invited by then Sen. Ernesto Herrera to go on a tour around Cebu to promote an anti-drug and stay-in-school campaign for the youth.
1999 - Young man is starting to get noticed as a teenybopper star. He stars in a few movies and guests in a number of TV shows. He is paired with Angelika and Cheska Garcia. Young man is also invited to be part of Sunday variety show ASAP. At the end of the year, for his birthday celebration, he is asked to do a rap number with Francis M. Executives start to take notice and offers him a record deal. It is also this time that young man starts to develop his body.
2000 - Young man displays his well-chiseled body for the first time in a much-talked about ad campaign for an underwear company. His face is suddenly everywhere. Other endorsements follow.
2001 - Young man is a mainstay of Sa Dulo Ng Walang Hanggan, a top-rating soap opera with Claudine Barretto and Luis Alandy. He is one-fifth of an all-male group, the Hunks, who have staged top-selling concerts and will do a US tour before the year ends. They will shoot a movie for Star Cinema soon. He is currently shooting Dekada ’70 with Vilma Santos and is about to hit the recording studios for his sophomore album under Star Records.
He may be very successful now but according to him, "nothing was spoonfed to me. Of course, I couldn’t have done this without help from a lot of people but I really had to work hard to get where I am right now."
This boy’s name is Carlos Agassi.