Zsazsa and Dolphy: ‘At last’

NOW SINGER-ACTRESS Zsazsa Padilla can joke about it.

“Di ko pipikutin si Dolphy,” she quipped. “He hasn’t even proposed yet. I won’t force him to marry me.”

It’s because she has been swamped with questions about her much-delayed wedding to the King of Comedy, especially after the “decree of nullity” to her first marriage (to dentist Modesto Tatlonghari) was granted last week.

Since a shotgun wedding is out of the question, will she consider secretly eloping?

Nah.

“If ever, it’ll be as quiet as possible. People would just get surprised that we got married,” she quipped.

They’re in no hurry to get hitched, she clarified. “It’s not a big issue for us. We both know where we stand. That we will always be here for each other, in good times and bad. Tried and tested na kami.”

She explained that she and Dolphy would “need to fix a lot of things first.”

Suffice it to say, she admitted, “when I wish for a grand wedding, it would only be for my daughters (Karylle, Nicole and Zia).”

She pointed out, however, that she precisely filed for annulment, to put things in order. “I was 16 when I got married; 23 when I got separated. I wanted to have a second chance.”

Over two decades later she got her wish.

It was a long, uphill climb, but it was well worth it, she said. “My petition took 10 years. I was told our case was the longest in Parañaque,” she recalled. “If there’s a message I’d like to impart to other women, it’s this: It’s possible. Don’t lose hope. You just have to keep fighting.”