Jackie Rice: ‘Appearances can be deceiving’

RICE. No laughing matter.

WITH her glowing mestiza looks and piercing eyes, Jackie Rice looks tougher than she actually is. Our recent chat with the grand winner of “StarStruck Season Three” revealed a side of her the public knows little about: Jackie shares, “Appearances can be deceiving. People think I’m mataray—but, that’s just the way I look. Ang totoo, I get hurt easily. If you get to know me better, you’ll realize how sensitive I am!”

Talent search

The 21-year-old Fil-Am beauty says that, shortly after winning the top plum of the popular talent search, people began saying troubling things about her. She recalls, “I’d wake up one day and read in the papers how nasty I was. The rumors got so bad that even my parents started believing that I was a bad girl!”

Jackie wondered out loud, “‘Ang sakit naman—kilala n’yo ba ako?’ (laughs)” In those days, however, it was no laughing matter for her. “I would cry my eyes out, then threaten to quit show biz. I developed a phobia for press cons—takot na takot ako to meet the press, because you didn’t know what issue they’d hurl at you.”

How did she deal with it? She replies, “I realized that it was something I had to get used to. Then, Tito Butch (Francisco) gave me good advice: ‘Don’t read the papers’—and, it worked! Now, dedma na ako sa lahat ng intriga (laughs).”

Disposition

With a sunnier disposition and a thicker hide, Jackie says she’s ready to face more challenges—on-camera and off. With shows like “Bubble Gang,” “Ilumina” and “Spooky Nights,” she’s learned to be more relaxed, and less impressionable—which helped her immensely when she topbilled the telenovela, “Sisid.”

These days, Jackie is no longer as shy as she used to be. After our chat, when she was asked to sing, the pretty actress readily agreed—and she gamely worked the crowd!