Lorna is ‘happily loveless’

While her first cousin Zsa Zsa Padilla is upbeat about getting married for the second time (featured in this corner yesterday), Lorna Tolentino said that once was enough. Lorna has opted to be fancy-free since her husband Rudy Fernandez died 11 (in June) years ago. Her other first cousin, Amy Perez, is on her second marriage (to TV reporter Carlo Castillo).

Make no mistake about it, though. Lorna is “happily loveless” in the sense that she has stayed away from suitors.

“Happy na ako sa mga anak at apo ko,” Lorna told Funfare last Saturday at the Seda Hotel (Quezon City) where she was introduced to the movie press as the newest brand ambassador of Beautiderm (after Marian Rivera, Sylvia Sanchez and her son Arjo Atayde, et al).

Now in her late 50s, Lorna described herself as an “okay mom” to Raphael (Rap-Rap) and Renz and a “more okay lola” to Leila Victoria (nicknamed Tori), Rap-Rap’s daughter.

“Tori is seven years old and she used to spend weekends with me (in White Plains, Quezon City). She now stays in Alabang where she is studying.” (“The girl is an honor student,” volunteered Gorgy Rula, one of the reporters close to Lorna.)  

It was easy for Beautiderm president/CEO Rhea Anicoche-Tan to enlist Lorna as a brand ambassador since they are friends and, according to Lorna, she has been using Beautiderm items for several years now and she agrees to endorse a brand only if she believes in it.

“LT is one of my dearest friends and I am humbled to welcome her to the Beautiderm family,” said Rhea, a former radio host who founded the company in 2009 that has grown by leaps and bounds (with over 60 stores throughout the country and one at the Lucky Plaza in Singapore), thanks to more than 40 actors and actresses who serve as ambassadors and 100-plus re-sellers who initially started as users. “Aside from being a friend, I am a huge fan of hers. I am impressed by her body of work and timeless beauty.”

With her only grandchild Leila Victoria, daughter of her son Raphael/Rap-Rap. Photo from Lorna's Instagram

So how does Lorna preserve that “timeless beauty”?

“We cannot stop aging,” she conceded, “but we can do something to slow it down.”

She doesn’t stick to a regular diet, doing it only “off and on,” losing weight lately because she is allergic to crabs, shrimps, beans and salty foods, among other no-nos.

“Last year, it was the reverse,” disclosed Lorna. “I had a hard time losing weight due to hormonal imbalance. I am taking vitamins for it.”

Because she is scoliotic (like Zsa Zsa, Amy and their other cousins), Lorna cannot do rigorous exercises but only light ones such as yoga and swimming.

“I make sure that I get enough sleep,” said Lorna. “Matakaw ako sa tulog. Di ba ako si Tulog Queen?”

As Lily in FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano, a character that reminds the teleserye followers of an infamous figure, Lorna has a 2 a.m. cut-off time but sometimes her shoot extends up to the wee hours of the next morning.    

“So I spend the next day resting and having a massage.”

At her age, Lorna said she has ceased being a worrywart, especially as far as growing old(er) is concerned.

“Why worry? Nakaka-wrinkles lang ‘yon!”

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)