Snooky Serna. Image from Alex Brosas
Veteran actress Snooky Serna recently opened up about the real reason why she nearly left for the United States to stay with her relatives when she was around 19 years old and feeling powerless and hopeless in the face of controversies hounding her young career.
In an exclusive interview with this reporter at the sidelines of the story conference for the film “Maple Leaf Dreams,” Serna said that she experienced bashing from critics, and it got her so depressed that time that she thought of leaving show business for good.
“Siguro right before mag-asawa ako. I married at 26 kasi. It’s around mga 19 to 21 ako. May pinagdadaanan ako dito sa Pilipinas. I was thinking, mag-quit kaya ako sa showbiz kahit mahal na mahal ko ang pag-aartista. Mamuhay na lang ako nang tahimik doon (kasi) walang intriga,” she said. (It’s probably right before I got married. I was married at 26. I was around 19 to 21 then. I was going through something here in the Philippines. I was thinking, what if I quit in showbiz even though I really love acting. I would just live there because there was no intrigue).
“Noong pumayat ako, ‘ay, nag-drugs ‘yan.’ Noong tumaba, ‘ay, buntis si Snooky.’ Pati ’yung physical appearance ko kasi I have a pointed nose,” she recalled. “I got affected. I’m but human.”
(When I got thin, they thought, ‘Ah, she’s into drugs’. When I got fat, ‘Ah, Snooky is pregnant’. They hit even my physical appearance because I have a pointed nose.)
Serna acknowledged that the times now have changed, and there are so many more platforms that can be used to attack celebrities, unlike before.
“Hindi nga lang ganito karami ang avenues na puwede kaming ma-bash noon. Ngayon kasi, ang social media, kaliwa’t kanan na. Ang dami ng social accounts, may Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube na puwede kang ma-bash. Kasi noon, diyaryo lang,” she said. (Unlike before, there are now many the avenues that we can be bashed then. Now, the social media, it’s left and right. There are so many social media accounts, there’s Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube where you can be bashed. In the past, there’s only the newspapers).
She further recalled that her mom, the late actress Mila Ocampo, used to tell her to imitate her attitude by being strong and not mind the bashers and simply focus on her craft.
“Pero ako, (But me), to be very honest, I’m quite sensitive. Hindi ako palaban lalo na noon. (I am not a fighter more so then),” she said.
Playing a quintessential Filipino mom to Kira Balinger in “Maple Leaf Dreams,” Serna said she would not go against her daughters if they choose to seek greener pastures abroad.
“Yes, I would not mind. Ako, (Me) I trust na ‘yung mga anak ko alam nila ang ginagawa nila (that my kids know what they’re doing). I have faith in God. Hindi naman sila pababayaan ng Panginoon. (God will not forsake them). If their good future is there, so be it. Okay lang na doon sila magtrabaho (It’s okay that they work) abroad,” she said. EDV