Iza Calzado
I’m not yet emotionally and mentally ready, but I’m getting there. Everyday, I get closer to that,” said actress Iza Calzado when asked about her plan to have a baby with husband, British entrepreneur Ben Wintle.
The couple has been married since December 2018. Iza, 36, said she and Ben, 37, will most likely work on having a child next year, since work has already been lined up for her this 2019.
Also, Iza admitted that she was still battling fear. “People would tell me, ‘You will never be ready for it.’ I’d answer, ‘Guys, you don’t know where I am coming from. You didn’t live my life.’ Like my marriage, if I had rushed into it, I don’t think I would have felt more ready and secure when I walked down the aisle and said my ‘I do.’ I know people—friends of mine—who would ask themselves, ‘Tama ba itong ginagawa ko?’ even as the ceremony was ongoing. I’ve never had that. I had no more doubts.”
Iza said this was also why she opted not to rush into motherhood. “That’s being responsible for a human being—such responsibility! I can’t even be responsible for myself,” the actress shared with Inquirer.
Iza said she has slowly gotten accustomed to being Mrs. Wintle. “Ben said I’m kinder to him now. Ask him! Seriously, you will eventually learn to let go of petty things, like splashes of water by the sink. I go crazy when he rinses his face! I used to tell him, ‘Wipe that!’ Now, OK na lang,” she said. “Never mind what he does to our toothpaste! I’ve learned to accept that habits are hard to change.”
What Iza said she was trying to teach Ben these days, is chivalry.
Calzado
“When I go down the stairs in high-heeled shoes, I tell him to offer his hand. His dad has taught him that, but I guess he never got to practice it, especially since he had been single for a long time.”
She recalled: “His dad teased me, ‘Maybe because you promote women empowerment.’ I said, ‘Wearing heels is different. That’s beyond women empowerment! ’Pag nahulog ako, siya rin ang mahihirapan.’”
She is currently doing “Pandanggo sa Hukay” for the 2019 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival in August. She also got busy with She Talks Asia conferences last March and “Mystified,” iflix’s first original Filipino film last April.
Iza also recently signed up with iOptions Ventures Corp. to star in Alvin Yapan’s period film “Culion,” as well as sit as executive producer of the project.
Award-winning screenwriter Ricky Lee wrote a character with Iza in mind. “When he writes, there’s meaning to it; his words have weight,” Iza said.
Iza will play Anna, one of three best friends (Ditas and Doris), afflicted with leprosy and living like virtual prisoners in Culion in the 1940s.
“Anna grew up there. Her mother had to give her up at age 9 because she had leprosy,” Iza explained. “She is hopeful. She believes that there will be a cure. She wants to eventually get out of Culion.”
Shooting in Culion, Palawan, will commence in June.