Gerald on admitting relationship with Julia: ‘Para akong nabunutan ng tinik’

Yam Concepcion (left) and Gerald Anderson in “Init sa Magdamag”

It’s something I felt I just had to do for my peace of mind,” said actor Gerald Anderson as he described his much-talked-about interview with TV host Boy Abunda, wherein he finally admitted to dating Julia Barretto.

“I don’t think it has affected my career at all. Personally, nabunutan ako ng tinik. Aside from that, I didn’t feel any other effect on me. My life is still the same. We actually have bigger problems to deal with these days than my interview with Tito Boy. After that, I’ve decided to move on,” Gerald told reporters during a media gathering to promote his latest drama series, “Init sa Magdamag,” on the Kapamilya Channel.

When asked how the present state of his emotional well-being has affected his portrayal of Christopher Salcedo, his character in the series, the 32-year-old actor replied: “Actually, I’m good at separating my personal life from what I’m doing at work. Whatever it is that I’m going through personally—whether I’m in the middle of a controversy or I’m happy and content with my life—I make sure it doesn’t affect what I do on the set. I get motivation from the experiences and life challenges of my character.”

‘Sacrifices for the sake of love’

Gerald explained that Christopher or Tupe in “Init sa Magdamag” is a doctor to the barrios. “He has experienced many obstacles in life. Because we’ve worked on this series for a long time, I was able to really become Tupe. I felt his frustrations and hardships. This is why I didn’t have to access old personal experiences in order to be Tupe. What happened to him was really pitiful. I was able to sympathize,” he added.

“Tupe has a good heart. I’m impressed with his motivation to surpass whatever problems he has in relation to his family, to his great love and the community he is servicing,” he further said. “There’s one memorable experience of Tupe’s that I was able to relate to. That’s what the audience should watch out for.”

“Init sa Magdamag,” which also features Yam Concepcion and JM de Guzman, will premiere on the Kapamilya Channel, TV5 and A2Z on April 19.

Coming from a war-drama themed teleserye (“A Soldier’s Heart”), Gerald said he immediately got attracted to this new project simply by reading the script of its pilot week. “It excited me. Tupe’s experiences are things I’ve never tackled before in my other projects. I was moved by the sacrifices he was willing to make for the sake of love,” Gerald explained. “I got curious about Tupe. The adjustments he made for the sake of his great love, Rita (Yam), was really exceptional.”

Gerald also said that the show aims to teach the audience the different ways and levels people express their love. “It’s human nature to be very judgmental of other people—when it comes to the relationships and situations they are in—even though we really have no idea of what they’re going through and how they ended up being there.”

Is Gerald willing to sacrifice everything for love, just like his character? The actor replied: “I’ve already sacrificed a lot for the sake of love. I’m sure you all know this. The reason I got attracted to Tupe is his selflessness. His passion is to help people in need. How he expresses his love is also very interesting. He doesn’t shout to the world how much he cares for a person. He just shows this by being devoted to their relationship. Tupe is also a person who knows what he wants. I’m also able to relate to him in that sense.”

Yam and JM play the prominent political couple Rita and Peterson, whose marriage is on the brink of collapse as they struggle to have a child. Peterson met an accident years earlier that made him incapable of fathering a child. Rita believes that they can save their relationship if she bears one through in vitro fertilization. But Peterson proposes what he thinks is a simpler solution—get the barrio doctor, Tupe, to be their sperm donor.

Gerald Anderson

Rekindling old flames

Unbeknownst to Peterson, Rita and Tupe were once lovers. Conflict arises when it already becomes difficult for Rita to hide her past with Tupe from her husband, especially because there’s now a possibility to rekindle old flames.

Gerald said he really made the effort to break the ice with Yam, since they never really had any proper conversation prior to taping for all their love scenes in the series. “We got to work with each other in the movie I did with Sarah (Geronimo), but Yam was on the set for only a day. This is really a first for us,” he recalled. “It was funny because included on list of things we had to shoot on our first days at work was the sequence where I had to wear briefs while we’re bathing with Rita by the brook.

“It was definitely a challenge, also because watching us on the set were some 30 other people. It’s good that Yam is very professional. She was able to come up with a very passionate performance. I like coworkers who are like that. It makes my job easier,” Gerald said. “Of course, we needed to have a personal conversation prior to taping in order to break the ice. It was during that time when I realized that Yam is very humble and down-to-earth.”

‘Too revealing’

Recalling the scenario prior to taping the scene by the brook, Gerald said he got shocked when his wardrobe assistant handed him the underwear, which he described as “too revealing,” and “looking almost like a Speedo bikini swimwear.”

“I told her to look for something else because I wasn’t ready to wear that. I was still feeling slightly ill at ease around Yam then,” he said. “Direk Raymond (Ocampo) went down the set and undressed. Wearing only his briefs, he showed me what he wanted me to do for the scene. I understood why he did that. It was to make me feel comfortable. Again, it’s nice to work with passionate people. He didn’t have to make that effort because he’s the director but he still did.”

The trailer of “Init sa Magdamag” hit 12 million views 13 days after it was first released on YouTube. It also became a trending topic on social media. Gerald said he was really pleased with the reactions that he read. “It’s something I didn’t expect. Up to now, I still can’t believe that the number of views reached that high. I guess it’s also because we’re in lockdown and everyone is so bored now. They had time to watch the trailer,” he quipped. “The comments I liked were about the show having good quality. It makes me proud to be part of a project that was well-thought-out, with a story that is really motivational and timely.”

Under the creative management of Henry Quitain for Star Creatives, “Init sa Magdamag” is codirected by Ian Lorenos and Raymond Ocampo. The pilot episode will be streamed on April 17 (two days earlier) on the iWantTFC app and website.