Vic Sotto
Vic Sotto will turn 68 in April but doesn’t look it.
Vic said having a positive outlook in life is his secret to aging gracefully. His advice: “Don’t dwell on your problems too much. Just go with the flow. You’ll be amazed at how these problems find solutions on their own, in God’s time.”
“Stressing over our problems is one way to speed up aging. Oftentimes, we overreact when the truth is, ours isn’t really a big deal compared to other people’s problems. Remember that God will not give us problems that we won’t be able to overcome. We should just leave it all up to Him,” he added.
“Another tip that I can give when it comes to growing old gracefully is to always be thankful for everything, the good and the bad,” Vic shared with show biz scribes at a recent virtual gathering to launch him as the endorser of BossMax 3, a dietary supplement and coffee made from mangosteen xathone. The event was hosted by his “Eat… Bulaga!” cohost Paolo Ballesteros.
The comedian with wife, actress-TV host Pauleen Luna (left)
Mental health
Vic said the pandemic has made him more conscious of his health. He has since started eating the right food and taking the right food supplements. He said he also recently started paying attention to his mental health.
“I’m growing old, but just like (his ‘Eat…Bulaga!’ cohosts) Tito Sen (Tito Sotto, his brother) and Joey (de Leon), I feel like I’m getting younger and younger every day. It’s really the family and friends that you keep. My wife (Pauleen Luna) and (their daughter) Tali keep me feeling alive all the time. It’s also about your outlook. I feel like I’m only in my 40s,” he declared. “Before I realized this, I felt scared of growing old. I felt scared of adding another year to my age whenever it was my birthday. Now, I’m enjoying it; not to mention the senior citizen’s discount.”
While Vic said it doesn’t feel right to be thanking the pandemic for it, he noted that being forced to stay at home because of the lockdowns enabled him to witness a lot of Tali’s milestones. “I was there when she said her first clear word and her first sentence, as well as when she sang the first song she’s learned, the ‘Ama Namin’—even though the lyrics simply ‘sounded like’ the actual one,” he pointed out.
“Tali is really into music. Her ability to remember tunes amazes me. My latest discovery is that she is a member of the BTS Army. She knows ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Butter.’ She plays them on her iPad again and again,” Tali’s dad beamed.
… with 4-year-old daughter Talitha, or Tali (behind)
‘Entertainer’
When asked whether he is already seeing Tali joining show biz in the near future, Vic said: “I think it’s inevitable, considering her background, but when you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she would sometimes say, ‘I want to be a doctor;’ or sometimes, ‘to be a chef,’ or ‘to be a singer.’ But what I really think she’d end up being is a comedian. She has great comedic timing. What you’ve seen from what Pauline has been posting on Instagram and Facebook is only the tip of the iceberg.”
He said that Tali has been the family’s “entertainer” at home, ever since she learned how to talk clearly. “The only way you can make her keep quiet is when you put a milk bottle in her mouth. She enjoys pretend games. That’s what makes her talk nonstop. She likes playing ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ and hide-and-seek, so you can’t be lazy or sluggish when she’s around. You have to match her energy. She beats Pauline when it comes to being the most talkative at home, hands down.”The comedian let on that his 4-year-old daughter can have a sibling only if the precocious child finally learns to sleep by herself.
“The truth is, she would always include in her prayers, which she recites every night before going to sleep, either a baby sister or a brother. The problem is, she’s not used to sleeping on her own yet. She would always sleep on our bed and she would fall asleep only if she was hugged by her mommy or her daddy. This is why she has no sibling up to now,” said Vic, laughing.
Credit to mothers
On his secret to being a good father, Vic replied: “I think Paolo is the best person to answer this. He’s an ideal father—may father na, may mother pa! Seriously, I cannot say I’m an ideal father. You all know that, through the years, I’ve been very busy with work. What I really want is to give credit to the mothers of my children because it’s really them who expertly guided our children while growing up. I talk with our children only when their mothers think that my advice is needed.
“When it comes to dealing with my kids, I was never a strict parent. Saktong disiplina lang. I’m thankful that all my children are kind and never gave me any problems. I’m also thankful because their mothers took care of them really well,” Vic declared.