RUFFA Gutierrez with daughters Venice (center) and Lorin, who often hang out with the clan’s “newest member.”
Like a true beauty queen, Ruffa Gutierrez very rarely gets ruffled by tough questions from media.
Until this curveball was thrown: “Is there a new addition to the Gutierrez family?”
Ruffa was momentarily flustered, but quickly recovered: “Is there?”
It’s Sarah
Actually, her mom-manager Annabelle Rama earlier referred to Sarah Lahbati, Richard Gutierrez’s girlfriend (and not the young couple’s rumored baby) as the new member of the family.
“Nakakaloka,” Ruffa told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a one-on-one interview during her launch as endorser of Cosmo Skin L-Glutathione.
According to Richard, Sarah, as the latest addition to the clan, will appear in the coming reality series, “It Takes Gutz to be a Gutierrez,” airing soon on E!
“We treat Sarah like family. She loves my daughters and they love her,” Ruffa said.
She related that, when she’s working, Sarah would often baby-sit sisters Lorin and Venice.
“They have bonding moments. My daughters watch movies with Richard and Sarah. They’re planning to catch Taylor Swift’s concert in Manila together, this June.”
Fireworks
Richard announced that the persistent questions hounding him and Sarah will be answered in the reality show. “I’m sure there will be fireworks,” Ruffa said. “Knowing our family, there will be an explosive revelation in each episode.”
With siblings Richard and Raymond, Ruffa closed this reality-show deal with One Mega Group’s TV 100 and E! Channel Asia.
They had to present the show to E! executives for approval. “It was nerve-wracking,” she recounted.
“We were not used to having cameras follow us around,” she said of filming the pilot. “It was an experimental project for us. But E! execs loved it so much, that instead of a two-hour special, they asked for an entire season (six episodes). They wanted more, but we thought it was best to try it first.”
Some episodes were shot during the family’s Asian holiday on board the Star Cruises, Ruffa remarked.
All the better to feel trapped with their mom? “Mom tends to be makulit … as in, OC (obsessive-compulsive) when we travel together. She would always be the first to arrive at the airport … she’d nag us about our passports. She thinks we are all 10 years old.”
She should have brought her colorist to the cruise, Ruffa said. “My hair could have turned gray because of my mom,” she quipped.
Biggest revelation
Biggest revelation in the show could well be feisty mom Annabelle’s seldom-seen vulnerable side. “While we were shooting the pilot episode, my mom suddenly cried,” Ruffa recalled. “As my daughters put it: Humagulgol siya! We had never seen our mom cry. We got worried.”
Her relationship with Annabelle has “evolved a great deal” through the years, Ruffa said. Sometimes their roles are reversed and she finds herself fussing over her.
“The usual bickering is still there, but we have a deeper understanding [of each other] now,” she volunteered. “That’s because I’m also a mother, and I see where she’s coming from.”
On the other hand, Ruffa insisted that Annabelle has “mellowed” considerably. “She’s still funny, but not as aggressive as before.”
No quarrelling
Annabelle suspected that it was Ruffa who inserted a provision in the E! contract stipulating that the fearless “momager” was not allowed to quarrel with anyone on Twitter or in real life.
“For the record, it wasn’t me,” Ruffa said. “The contract really stated that my mom had better behave. Hindi siya puwedeng mag-taray!”
Ruffa promised that the show would present a candid portrait of her family—un-Photoshopped, warts and all.
“We will reveal everything, even our beauty secrets,” she said. She is willing to go on-cam without makeup, too.
“In the pilot, I was not feeling well— I was coughing, my voice was hoarse and I wasn’t dolled up at all! I wanted to cancel the shoot. But our director (Mike Carandang of “America’s Next Top Model”) thought it was perfect that I was sick. I told myself: That’s reality!”
(Email bayanisandiegojr@gmail.com)