Robin and Mariel with daughter Isabella
Robin Padilla refuses to have any more children with wife Mariel Rodriguez.
“She isn’t cut out for pregnancy,” he says of the mom of his youngest child, Maria Isabella. Robin has six other kids with three other women. “Mariel is not like other women who would carry a child and recover well from giving birth.”
Mariel has had two miscarriages prior to Isabella. During her pregnancy, she had to take a leave of absence from work to undergo heparin treatment to boost her chances of giving birth.
“She had health problems. She had to inject insulin on herself. At one point, I thought she acquired a heart problem after she gained so much weight,” Robin recalls. “I have enough kids. I’ll just focus on taking care of all of them.”
“What Mariel is is a good TV host. She talks even while she is asleep,” the actor quips. Mariel recently returned to hosting the noontime show “It’s Showtime” on ABS-CBN. Robin adds that it took time for Mariel to finally convince him to allow her to go back to work.
“I didn’t want her to. We were so used to being together, and we’re already contented with what we have financially,” Robin declares. “I know she is happy whenever she is with Isabella. But when our daughter is asleep, Mariel becomes her own person. She was already a host before she became a wife and mother.”
Substitute teachers
The actor says he finally allowed Mariel to resume work only after the latter made sure that Isabella would not be neglected. “You see, Mariel is Isabella’s teacher. We’ve read somewhere that a child absorbs the most information between ages 1 and 6 years old,” Robin points out. “Before going back to work, she had to make sure that Isabella’s grandparents would be willing to substitute for her as teachers.”
Robin also says that he felt more secure when CCTV cameras had been installed all over the house.
Speaking of security, the actor says all is well now between him and daughter Kylie’s partner, Aljur Abrenica. They even go out to chat sometimes, just the two of them.
“I used to think that he wouldn’t take Kylie seriously, now I see that he only has the purest intentions. I also see in Alas (their son) that Aljur is a good father, because the baby is happy. This means that their home is full of love,” he shares with the Inquirer.
Filipino martial arts
“My wish for Aljur is to become an action star. I gave him some tactical shirts when I saw that he was doing action scenes in ‘Asintado,’” says Robin, adding that he will teach Aljur some Filipino martial arts when he finally has the time.
Robin is currently busy with the series, “Sana Dalawa ang Puso.” While Robin plays the loyal, kind and hardworking Leo Tabayoyong in the show, he says he can very well relate to Christopher de Leon’s character, Juancho Laureano, the father of Leo’s wife, Lisa (Jodi Sta. Maria).
Thinking that Leo isn’t worthy of his daughter, Juancho does everything in his power to sabotage Lisa’s marriage. “All fathers are naturally protective of their children. I’d probably do the same thing for my daughters, but not as destructive as Juancho, of course—that’s already an exaggeration for TV,” says Robin during the launch of the Brand Pilipinas Movement, in which Robin’s Liwanag ng Kapayapaan Foundation is one of 120 partners.
“Brand Pilipinas Movement” aims to influence Filipinos to adopt a “Filipino-first” mentality by choosing homegrown brands over the more popular international brands.