Janice: John and I are not the best of friends

JANICE de Belen plays adoptive mom to Gerald Anderson’s mentally challenged character in “Budoy.”

Actress Janice de Belen would rather not work with former husband John Estrada, even now that they are both ABS-CBN talents.

“Nothing personal,” Janice told Inquirer Entertainment.  “It’s just that, if we worked together, there’s bound to be so much hype. I don’t want that burden on his new wife.”

Janice and John have four kids—Inah, 19; Moira, 18; Kaila, 15; and Yuan, 13. Their marriage was officially annulled in 2004 after a highly publicized breakup. Janice has remained single, while John wed Brazilian beauty queen Priscilla Meirelles in March this year.

“We’re not the best of friends,” Janice admitted. “You need to be on good terms with the people you work with. I personally could do without hype. We have separate lives now.”

The actress said her relationship with John is, at best, “very civil.” She added: “Whatever our kids need from him they tell him themselves. They’re old enough now. We don’t have to deal with each other. We talk only if it’s really important.”

New Kapamilya

She is happy to be back on ABS-CBN, where she worked 10 years ago, Janice said. She is in the cast of the top-rating drama series “Budoy,” featuring Gerald Anderson in the lead role. Janice plays Elena, the adoptive mother and guardian of the mentally challenged Budoy Dizon.

Janice said Gerald was a revelation. “I didn’t expect him to be this good, maybe because he’s so young,” she said. “He surprised me on our first working day. I told him I was impressed.”

The show also features Jessy Mendiola, Enrique Gil, Zsazsa Padilla, Tirso Cruz III and Mylene Dizon. “We have a good working relationship,” said Janice. “And off-cam, we laugh and tease each other a lot.”

Janice clarified that she is not an exclusive Kapamilya. “That’s not possible, since I have another show on another network (“Spoon” on Net 25). You don’t have to make me sign a contract for me to be loyal.”

(“Budoy,” directed by Ruel Bayani and Tots Sanchez-Mariscal, airs weeknights after “Ikaw ay Pag-ibig.”)