Ricardo Cepeda (left) and Marina Benipayo
Actors Ricardo Cepeda and Marina Benipayo, who have been living together for eight years now, said the trauma brought by their respective failed marriages has kept them from taking their relationship to the next level.
“There’s really no rush to tie the knot. Things will unfold in its own time,” Ricardo said. “We’re doing so well now. I don’t think a wedding will change anything. We get along so well, financially, emotionally and humor-wise. We go on dates when we don’t have work. We enjoy malling and eating out together.”
Marina added: “We’re just riding the wave of our relationship. Despite the current setup, how we manage our lives and our kids are still separate. I got used to living on my own before Ric came along. Thinking about getting married brings to mind other attachments.”
Marina has two sons, Mark, 25, and Joshua, 21, with her nonshow biz ex, while Ricardo has two daughters, Samantha, 26, and Sachi, 22, with ex-wife, actress Snooky Serna.
Back then, Marina thought that the most difficult challenge they had to hurdle was how to meld their two families.
“Our fear was whether they would get along. Thank God, they did, on Day 1,” she recalled. “My guess is that this is because their ages are not so far apart. They have many things in common to talk about.”
Ricardo shared with the Inquirer: “After that, we took vacations together. That’s when we really got to bond.” Marina added: “It happened naturally. We never forced them to like each other. We’re thankful that all six of us get along well.”
“Definitely there was trauma,” said Ric when asked about his failed marriage to Snooky. “I wouldn’t say we’re friends; we’re civil. One lesson I’ve learned from the breakup was that before you get into another relationship, you already have to be your own person. You should not look at your would-be partner as someone who will make you whole.”
Marina said she and Snooky had gotten along well when they worked together in the drama series “Hahamakin ang Lahat” in 2018. “It was my first time to meet her, so I told her, “Let’s treat each other as Marina and Snooky, and think nothing of our past,’” she said. “We were work mates. We didn’t have to be close friends outside work. OK na ’yon.”
Marina is currently a cast member of “Onanay,” while Ricardo is part of the series “Asawa Ko, Karibal Ko,” both on GMA 7.
The couple said they don’t mind working together. It was actually in the 2011 teleserye “My Binondo Girl” where their romance developed.
“We’ve known each other from our modeling days. We didn’t have any inkling that we’d end up together. We treated each other like brother and sister back then,” Ricardo told reporters during the recent launch of the multibusiness organization called SPVTOP International Inc., which got him and Marina as brand ambassadors. The couple endorses the G-Power Patch, a device that protects the home from electrical surges.
“Show biz is not my bread and butter. I do it for fun. I only say ‘yes’ to a project if I feel like doing it,” said Ricardo.