“Siempre, boyfriend siya ng best friend kong si Lovi Poe kaya nakakailang,” she says. “But of course, knowing Lovi, wala naman sa kanya yon. Sinabihan pa nga raw niya si Rocco ng ‘Go for it! Heart Evangelista yan, no?’ Lovi and are open to each other so naglolokohan pa nga kami pagkatapos. Sabi ko sa kanya, parang nahalikan na rin kita and we laughed.”
Heart and Lovi are both happy that all social networking sites are full of positive feedback from viewers who watched the start of “Beautiful Strangers”. Both Heart as Kristine and Lovi as Joyce, along with Dina Bonnevie as Alejandra, got favorable comments from those who saw the pilot episode. The soap opens with a wedding scene that of Lovi to Benjamin Alves, the son of Dina and Christopher de Leon. She backs out of the wedding and from there, the story unfolds in flashback to the 90s when Heart was stilll a little girl and Dina suddenly appears in her birthday party to shame her for being a bastard.
Some people think that Lovi’s role as a young woman who is raped, loses her baby and her sanity, and becomes a taong graza is much more demanding than her role as a doctor in the story. “Oh yes, mas challenging talaga ang role niya, but it’s not an issue for me kasi we’re good friends and I’m happy for her,” Heart says. “May sariling demands yung role ko kasi malaki ang sama ng loob ko sa daddy ko rito, Christopher de Leon, dahil iniwan niya kami ng mommy ko, Ayen Laurel, at sumama siya kay Dina Bonnevie. Later on, as a doctor, I will help Lovi para gumaling siya at hindi na maging taong graza. But kami naman ang magiging magkalaban. We’ll have scenes na we’re fighting, nagsasampalan. Exciting, di ba? And we look forward to that.”
How’s married life to Sen. Chiz Escudero? “It’s been seven months since we were married in Balesin Island on Feb. 15 and all I can say is we’re still in the honeymoon stage. So far, so good. But heto, may plan na siya, sa first anniversary namin, we’ll have a renewal of vows. Parang ikakasal kami uli and this time, kasama na ang parents ko who were not able to attend our wedding din kasi hindi pa sila nagkakabati-bati ni Chiz. Now, everything is going well at puede na kaming magpa-picture na kasama ang buong respective families namin.”
Sen. Chiz himself says their marital bliss is seen in Heart’s painting. “It’s really manifestd her art,” he adds. “Heart paints not only canvas but also on her own designer bags na rin at pati sa damit. Her artistic side hows na happy siya sa magandang lugar na kinakalagyan niya sa ngayon. Before, may pagka-dark ang paintings niya. But now, mas maliwanag yung mga painting niya and you can see she’s really very happy.”
