Zsa Zsa Padilla wants to be a grandmother

ZSA Zsa Padilla

Singer-actress Zsa Zsa Padilla is now ready to be a grandmother at age 51.

However, this doesn’t mean Zsa Zsa is pressuring her eldest daughter, Karylle, into giving her a grandchild.

“I want to be a lola   (grandmother), but I don’t want to pressure her,” Zsa Zsa said. “It will happen when she’s ready.”

Karylle is married to Sponge Cola frontman Yael Yuzon.

“I don’t want to rush her, because I also experienced how hard it was when I tried to get pregnant with Zia then. It took me two years,” she recalled.

At the media launch of her latest teleserye, “The Story of Us,” Zsa Zsa also answered questions about her relationship with architect Conrad Onglao.

She said Conrad, her boyfriend of two years, has finally understood the nature of her work and eventually learned to appreciate it.

“I was in the middle of making ‘Dyesebel’ when we started dating,” she said. “He once saw me come home really tired and said, ‘I respect what you do.’ He watched the series, saw the finished product and was impressed.”

She said making her relationship with Conrad public was a “personal choice.” She explained: “The drawback is that people have all kinds of opinions about you.”

She no longer cares about bashers. She just does not read their posts. “I hired an administrator to run my Facebook account, so I don’t get to see their comments anymore.”

Surprise wedding

On their coming wedding, Zsa Zsa said: “It will be a surprise, even to Conrad. I don’t want to feel pressured about it. This, after all, is not my first wedding. It’s also not a first for him. I also had a wedding that got canceled (referring to the one she had planned with the late comedian, Dolphy). I was traumatized by that experience. That’s why this time, I don’t want to plan so much.”

At the same media event, Zsa Zsa expressed her wish for “Filipino TV production outfits to finally be confident of their work” and no longer allow their creativity to be influenced by the programs’ performance in the ratings game.

“I’m very proud of our TV shows, especially those that are now doing well in other parts of the world. It’s just that a large chunk of our work goes to waste when producers decide to revise plots in order to compete for high ratings,” she told reporters.

The actress noted that television shows would often extend the length of exposure of some actors depending on how well their characters were received by the audience.

“That is how we, Filipinos, work. I wish that we’d soon be like the Koreans. Their drama series are canned. If that happens here, then no time and resources will be wasted,” she added.

Zsa Zsa was last seen in a TV series, “Mars Ravelo’s Dyesebel,” where she worked with the late director Francis Xavier Pasion, who died of a heart attack last week.

Many celebrities are blaming the stressful environment and long working hours on the set of TV shows not only for the death of Pasion, but also for those of directors Uro de la Cruz and Wenn V. Deramas.

“The more senior actors are fortunate, because some of them are given a cut-off time. I, for one, have 2 a.m. as my cut-off time. However, this is not observed religiously, especially when the production team is rushing to tape scenes that will be aired on the same day. We all just try to adjust,” she shared with the Inquirer.

“What most of us do is compensate by overeating. Since you’re tired and you lack sleep, you get energy from the food you eat. It’s a challenge to say no to the five meals per day that are offered,” she pointed out.

“Food on the set can be unhealthy. I don’t know what the best alternative should be—maybe the caterers should serve more salads.”

According to the singer-actress, she is more conscious of her health now. She had an operation for scoliosis a few years back.

She also had a cancer scare four years ago. She was recently diagnosed with cervical spondylosis. “I avoid carrying heavy handbags. I stopped doing Pilates and yoga because I have metal implants,” she said. “If I could, I would accept more work. I’m such a workaholic.”