CARLA ABELLANA is happy with the good feedback about the return of her acclaimed show, “Love of My Life”, on GMA Telebabad last week.
Lots of netizens say they really missed it and they’re happy to see Carla as Adelle, Rhian Ramos as Kelly, Mikael Daez as Nikolai and Coney Reyes as Isabelle back on primetime.
As Adelle, Carla is a single mom whose first husband died.
She then meets real life squeeze, Tom Rodriguez, the favored son of Coney Reyes, who courts her and they get married. But Tom soon finds out that he is stricken with terminal disease and eventually dies.
Tom’s first girlfriend, Rhian, with whom he has a son, joins Carla in Coney’s mansion, along with Mikael, Coney’s black sheep of a son.
Their relationship with each other becomes messy and complicated. The series had to be suspended at the peak of their conflict due to the pandemic.
“We all thought the show has been shelved for good,” says Carla. “So when we were notified that we’d do lock in taping, siempre, natuwa kaming lahat na hindi pala cancelled ang show.
"But some adjustments had to be made sa story. Yung child actors who play as mga anak namin ni Rhian, bawal nang magtrabaho dahil sa pandemic so they had to go.
"Yung dating mansion ginagamit namin as our location, bawal na ring mag-taping kaya we had to do lock in taping in a new location sa Tagaytay.”
Playing her character again is also a problem.
“Ang tagal din naming hindi humarap sa kamera so somehow, nakakakaba,” she says. “May scene na kailangan kong umiyak sa isang mata lang. Before, it was so easy for me to do, pero ayun, hindi ako makaiyak. Nakakapanibago.
"First time kong ma-experience this when before, it was so easy for me to shed tears kahit walang preparation. But after a while, you get the hang of things again and it’s easier to identify with your character.”
So how would she describe her experience with Tom in this season of the pandemic?
“Sanay kaming when we’re both working, bihira naming makita ang isa’t isa. But due to the lockdown we got to spend a lot of time together. Tulong kami in doing household chores.
"For our vlog, we have to do everything ourselves kasi wala kaming cameraman or director. Kami lahat ang gumagawa. Pero dahil doon, talagang it strengthened our relationship.
"May misunderstandings kung minsan, but it helped us grow as a couple. We don’t let things get worse, pinag-uusapan agad namin and we’ve learned to say sorry to each other., Natututo kami sa isa’t isa.”
She’s happy to see the old year go and she welcomes 2021 with so much hope in her heart.
“We’ve learned a lot during the past year, lalo na when it comes to maintaining health protocols for our own good.
"And of course, we continue to pray that we will finally be able to defeat the virus and go back to our normal lives before the pandemic na hindi tayo natatakot lumabas at all.”
