Solenn: The girl Derek left behind

Solenn Heusaff. The name doesn’t ring bells among the masa just yet but in the “sosyal” and showbiz circles it is synonymous to Derek Ramsay. I mean, everytime people talk about Derek’s colorful (not many people know how much it is!) love life, currently with girlfriend Angelica Panganiban (the two are in South Africa for the World Cup, Derek being a soccer fan and player), the name Solenn Heusaff always crops up. Yes, Solenn is the girl Derek has left behind.

“Yes, I’m the one,” confirmed Solenn to movie writers over lunch yesterday at Via Mare (Tomas Morato).

She’s half-French and half-Filipina, a cover girl, a supermodel (who graces those huge Penshoppe billboards along EDSA) and now a singer who will take a bow in this Sunday’s edition of the GMA noontime show Party Pilipinas. She’s a stunning beauty (5’6” tall) — “Pang Bb. Pilipinas,” observed Lolit Solis.

In contrast to Angelica who can be cold when around press people, casting them with a suspicious eye and seldom smiling, Solenn is warm and friendly and a delightful conversationalist, instantly lovable. She could have been the perfect partner for Derek who, like Solenn, comes from almost the same socio-economic-cultural background, both of them having spent several years abroad (he in England and she in Paris).

“It was Derek who broke up with me,” admitted Solenn who added that she and Derek went steady for four years, three years of which they spent as long-distance lovers while she was pursuing a degree in Fashion Designing in Paris and Derek was home busy with sports and commercial/fashion modeling which became his launching pad to showbiz.

Asked if she’s possessive, Solenn said no. Neither is she the jealous type, and that makes her the exact opposite of Angelica who sometimes irritates Derek when she gets jealous even of Derek’s fans, once exchanging harsh words (curses?) with some of them in the Internet. Derek is well-mannered, very proper, and he, like Solenn, easily connects to people even those he’s meeting for the first time. He’s not snooty unlike most of those who come from “sosyal” backgrounds.

Has Angelica anything to do with her and Derek’s break-up?

“No,” Solenn said. “I think she came into the picture after our break-up.”

Maybe their having been apart for three years made them outgrow each other. In showbiz as in romance, absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder; it makes the heart wander.

Up to now, Solenn has maintained a good, friendly relationship with Derek and his family (especially his mom) with whom Solenn said she’s very close to, closer in fact than Angelica is.

Asked if she still feels for Derek, the brutally-frank Solenn shrugged, “No more,” gesturing that he’s totally out of her heart that now beats for somebody else, “although not in a ‘committed’ way, just dating.” The last time she saw Derek was before he and Angelica flew to South Africa.

Yes, she has met Angelica (by chance) and they made beso-beso. A “plastic” gesture? “Not really,” said Solenn, “We were very polite to each other.”

It was Leo V. Dominguez who introduced Solenn to the press. Solenn is the newest addition to Leo’s growing stable of talents (including Ogie Alcasid, Lovi Poe, Emilio Garcia and Chris Cayzer) under his own LVD Management Consultancy and Services.

“It was Rey (Lañada, LVD handler) who discovered Solenn’s singing talent.”

“I saw Solenn at Georgina Wilson’s birthday bash,” recalled Rey. “She was singing. I wondered, ‘Is it really Solenn singing?’”

Now that she has one foot in showbiz, will Solenn go deeper into it and try acting?

“I’m not a good actress,” she said.

Told that she can learn on the job, she reconsidered. “Why not?”

If she did, it would be a good idea to cast her together with Derek and Angelica in a soap, with Solenn as the bida and Angelica as the kontrabida (after all, she’s good in playing anti-heroine roles such as in her current ABS-CBN soap Rubi).

Somebody asked Solenn about the possibility of her and Derek getting back together again if ever Derek and Angelica broke up.

“No,” was Solenn’s quick answer, shaking her pretty head. “We are better off as friends.”

Why Joey Albert is a proud mama

Vancouver-based singer Joey Albert is back in town but not just for another homecoming concert. Joey is also back to bring home her two daughters, Trixie and Marga Pacis, who have been recruited to join the first ever Philippine National Ladies Sevens Rugby team that is competing at the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) Women’s Sevens Tournament in Guang Zhou, China, on July 24-25. The Pacis girls were recruited early this year by the Philippine Rugby Football Union. Trixie, who was on a college exchange program here in the De La Salle University last September, played for the Alabang Angels. In Vancouver, both are outstanding multi-awarded players of their school teams and of the United Rugby Team.

Other members of the pioneer ladies’ team, who will be coached by Matt Cullen, include Kate Prado de los Santos, Aiumi Villarba Ono, Isabela de las Penas Silva, Alana Nicole Padilla, Syndee Angeli Storey, Rosette Rough, Paula Esquillo Lira, Jacqueline Finlan, Dyesebel Medalla Diaz, Rhea Paguia Santos, Joy Ledesma Pineda and Olivia Reyes Rallanka.

Although Canadian-raised, Trixie and Marga are not only very excited but also very proud to represent their country of birth in the forthcoming Asia-wide tournament. And no doubt, so are proud parents Joey and Vicente Pacis!

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