Yes, Showbiz IS In My Genes

I was bored1
Originally uploaded by cathyguballa.

There's just no denying it. I am a child of showbiz.

Growing up, part of my childhood angst, was being known as the daughter of you know who. Not that I didn't love my mother. It's just that I wanted my own identity. It was easier for me to hide my mother's identity because we didn't share the same family name. Mom had a screen name and unless you saw my birth certificate, there wasn't any way you would able to link us both. The reason was pretty obvious - I did not look anything like her. Another schoolmate and good friend was the daughter of an even more famous actress. Her case was a give-away. Not only did they share the same tall and fair looks, Tita B used her married name as her screen name as well.

I was blessed in the sense that my parents shielded me from the limelight. Dad was conservative and a businessman and he was quite strict about mom's working hours. Mom could only do one or two movies a year at the most, and tape her weekly show once a week - usually on a Saturday. Weekdays were devoted to us siblings. I think we were the only children who was driven to and from school by our mother all the way until high school! And to think, artista pa ang nanay namin.

Mom had many friends in and out of the business but she lead a very private life. I had LVN lead stars as Godmothers for my Baptism (this was in the 1960s, okay...) and the superstar of the late 1960s and ac action star/presidentiable as my wedding Godparents. All of them were very close to my family. In my eyes they were Tito so-and-so and Tita so-and-so. Sitting beside these gods and goddesses of the cinema, watching them up close and personal was normal fare in my growing up years.

To this day though, I continue to be mesmerized by the presence of heavenly bodies. Attending movie premieres and award shows were highlights of my growing up years. Even in my previous life as a lifestyle writer, I would be star-struck by the best of them. "Parang hindi ka anak ng artista..." my mother often chides me. Well, I guess there's a part of you that remains non-showbiz after all.

So this blog is all about my life both as a child of show business and that of a lifestyle reporter. Parts of me that I set aside over the last few years in pursuit of ther things. However, now that I have become nore settled, and in a totally different world, these parts have been nudging me, wanting to re-surface somehow. For the serious parts of myself, you can check out my other blog - Midlife Mysteries for inspirational and thought-provoking reading (ehem...). For the fun and lighter side, come and visit me here. I promise that the journey will just be as fun. As they say, abangan...

P.S. That is showbiz's apo up there. Making like Pocahontas (her childhood heroine) for a Photoshop project. The gene pool remains as deep, two generations down...