AFTER getting married and having a baby, Kapuso actress Kris Bernal admitted on “Fast Talk with Boy Abunda” that she now finds it challenging to perform daring scenes.
After a three-year hiatus from showbiz, she makes her much-awaited comeback in the afternoon teleserye, “House of Lies,” where she is presently making waves as the feisty and ambitious seductress Althea Torrecampo, in the GMA afternoon drama that also stars Beauty Gonzalez, Mike Tan and Martin del Rosario.
“Hirap na hirap ako sa mga love scenes,” allowed Kris. “I’m not comfortable kissing someone I’m not close to. Maybe when I was single, it was okay. But now that I’m married and I have a child, I get conscious na, ‘What will my husband think if he watches this?”
Kris is happily married to Perry Choi and they are blessed with a lovely daughter, Hailee Lucca, who’s two-and-a-half years old. Her husband is aware that Kris is going to do kissing scenes in the drama series, although she would not allow him to watch.
“He knows. I asked for his permission,” she said.
Kris described her character in “House of Lies” as ambitious and wants to gain power. “She’s jealous of Marj (Beauty). Gusto niya mas angat siya. Gusto niya siya iyong nakakalamang sa lahat ng bagay kaya gagawin niya talaga lahat para makuha iyong mas mayaman, mas successful na kapatid (Mike).”
Portraying her role requires Kris to do intimate scenes with co-stars Martin and Mike. “With Martin, it’s more intense, all out, 100 percent because he plays my husband. With Mike, tease lang.”
As an actress, it is Kris’ first time performing such intense love scenes. “Dati naman parang okay, dito-dito lang, ganyan,” she said. “Ito parang abot hanggang buong katawan. Nagki-cringe ttalaga ako kapag ginagawa ko iyon. But with my character, I need to be seductive. Ako iyong parang nagti-tease. Ako ang mag-aagaw. Inaakit ko silang lahat.”
The public has witnessed Kris’ evolution in her career. She remains a significant actress despite her short absence from the entertainment scene.
Thirty six-year-old Kris got engaged to her long-time Chinoy boyfriend, Perry Choi, in February 2020. They tied the knot in September 2021 at St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish in Magallanes, Makati. They welcomed baby Hailee Lucca in August 2023.
From emerging as one of the winners of “StarStruck: The Next Level” in 2007, Kris has played various characters that made us swoon, fall in love, laugh, feel forlorn and provoked.
Who could forget her in “Sine Novela: Dapat Ka Bang Mahalin?,” “The Last Prince,” “Koreana,” “Hiram na Alaala,” “Little Nanay,” “Impostora,” “Asawa Ko, Karibal Ko” and “Artikulo 247,” where she portrayed her antagonist role with flying colors?
It can be challenging to juggle family duties and a career, but quitting show business is not yet in her plans. Kris enjoys acting. Despite being in the industry for almost two decades, there’s still hunger in her.
“I really love acting,” asserted Kris. “I started out as a theater actress in school plays. Elementary pa lang nahasa ako sa mga theater (productions).”
Although Perry wants Kris to stop working and be a full-time mom, he is also supportive and understands how acting brings happiness to his wife.
Kris revealed during her conversation with Boy Abunda that there was a stage in her life when she felt her career had already reached its peak and her shows no longer clicked with the viewers. She became afraid of losing her popularity.
She admitted, “Ayoko talagang mawala kaya kahit noong nabuntis ako, nanganak ako, tina-try ko pa rin maging active kung kaya.”
Kris is embracing her transition from being a lead star to becoming a character actress. “Iyon lang din ang iniisip ko,” she said. “Sana papunta na rin ako sa pagiging character actress na pwede ngayon kontrabida ako, baka next pwede ulit akong maging bida pero iba naman character.”
With her charm and brilliant acting skills, Kris will stay relevant in the entertainment industry, where longevity is a fierce game of survival of the fittest.
Kris became known as the fourth season champion of the reality-based talent search, “Starstruck” on GMA Network in March 2007. She rose to fame as the other half of the loveteam with Aljur Abrenica, also the male counterpart as the Starstruck champion.
After the loveteam ended when Aljur married Kylie Padilla and he moved to rival network ABS-CBN, Kris was left to survive on her own and topbill soap operas.
On Instagram, the actress shared photos with her husband Perry Choi and daughter Hailee and looked back on her first year as a mother.
“It has been the most transformative, beautiful, fulfilling year of my life,” Kris said. “I embraced the most incredible journey of all: becoming a mom.
“It wasn’t always easy – exclusively breastfeeding being the most challenging thing – but every step was worth it for the miracle I was blessed to nurture,” she added.
Kris said she learned a whole new meaning of strength from the experience, coming from someone who used to focus on her career, health, fitness and self-care.
She also thanked everyone for checking in on her during the times she would be away from social media to focus inward in preparation for the next chapter of her life.
“Motherhood – some days I rock it. Some days it rocks me. Either way, we are rockin’. Here’s to motherhood, growth and everything we can achieve – together,” Kris said.
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