Lorna Tolentino soon to be Lola

WE JOINED the first taping day of TV5’s “Glamorosa”, about the world of beauty and cosmetic surgeons, thinking it’s going to be set in some glamorous place. It turned out the location is the slum area at the dumpsite in Addition Hills, Mandaluyong. Alice Dixson lives there, raised by her crazy mom, Deborah Sun, and a tough guy is so in love with her, Zoren Legaspi. Alice has an axe to grind against Lorna Tolentino and her mom, Celeste Legaspi, the dean of cosmetic surgeons, so she urges Zoren to seduce Lorna and he gets to impregnate her. Their daughter would be Ritz Azul.

Alice would later steal the baby and Lorna is taken back by her rich mom to become a famous beauty expert. Alice, by dint of hard work, also finishes medicine and becomes LT’s rival. Also in the cast are Tonton Gutierrez, Ronaldo Valdez, Lotlot de Leon, Martin Escudero, Jenny Miller, Meg Imperial and Victor Silayan, directed by Eric Quizon. We ask LT if it’s true she meddles with the show’s script.

“Not really meddle naman, but I do join the think tank to give my own inputs kung paano mas mapapaganda ang story,” she says. “I’m really excited with this project as first time ko to play a doctor. First time ko rin to work with Zoren at reunion naman namin ito ni Alice since we did ‘Nagbabagang Luha’ in 1989.”

Is it true she moved from TV5 and left ABS-CBN as she gets a high talent fee as a Kapatid? “It’s not the talent fee. It’s the number of working days. At ABS, they gave me only 85 working days a year. Dito, they’re giving me 140 days, which means around three shows a year plus a movie. Di pa tapos ang ‘Glamorosa’, ni-lineup na nila yung ‘Silay’ with Tita Susan Roces.”

Some write-ups about her say she’s not going to remarry anymore but some say that she’s open to a new romance. Which is which? “What I said was kung akong masusunod, tama na after Rudy (Fernandez). But ayokong magsalita ng tapos kasi baka testingin ako ni Lord. You never know what the future brings.”

Deborah Sun, who went to jail because of the estafa case she filed, is also in the show. How are they now? “Dapat, maging maligaya na lang tayo para sa mga taong nagkakaroon ng trabaho. Wala na kong problema sa kanya. Pinagharap na kami noon sa ‘Startalk’, kaya sa’kin, tapos na ‘yun.”

Is she really about to be a grandma? “Yes, on November 11, the girlfriend of my son Ralph is supposed to deliver their first baby to be named Lyla Victoria. Lyla is from the mom and Victoria is my real name. Four years na sila ni Ralph but they don’t live together at ayaw pa rin nilang pakasal.”