The Pratties —ISABEL OLI/INSTAGRAM
After being married to actor-concert director John Prats for almost nine years now, actress Isabel “Liv” Oli appears to already know her family’s quirks and how to best handle them. She even thinks they could be a good subject for a reality TV show.
The couple has three kids: Lily Feather, Daniel Freedom and Lilla Forrest.
Isabel and her family, whose milestones are documented on YouTube via the channel Pratty TV, are collectively known as the Pratties. John explained that this started when his friends nicknamed him “Pratty” a few years back.
“When I finally had a family, we became the Pratties,” explained John, who we also asked if he would be interested in doing a reality show with the rest of the bunch. “That would be interesting. There’s no such thing as a perfect family, but in that show, we could highlight our closeness and values. We’re big. This wouldn’t only feature my family, but also my sister Camille’s, along with our mom and dad.”
He continued: “You see, there’s always family drama whenever we encounter problems, but we handle them well. We try to be more understanding toward each other. We always communicate our feelings, which we later discovered was hardest to do.”
Isabel is keen on doing the reality show, too. “We’re all clingy. For example, we would go on a long vacation with John’s family and when it’s time to go home, we would all feel sad. Since we’re clingy, we’re all so funny when we’re going through sepanx (separation anxiety). My side of the family is not so different—they’re clingy, too,” she told Inquirer Entertainment in a recent interview.
“Another thing I like about my family is its honesty. We’re so honest to each other to the point that John and I would always argue, but we make sure to patch things up at the end of the day,” she added.
“We take note of the best things about our respective families and teach them to our kids. We want them to grow up to be family-oriented, too,” said John. “Camille and I were raised simply. We’re not extravagant people. Even though we grew up as celebrities, this is just work for us. When we come home, we’re still siblings to each other and children to our parents. We never received special treatment. We’re thankful for what we have, and those that we don’t have, we work hard for.”
Show business
When asked whether or not she would encourage her children to join show biz even at a young age, Isabel said she doesn’t mind because her husband and his sister used to be child stars, “And they turned out fine.” She, on the other hand, graduated from college first before working as an actress.
Surprisingly, John would rather that his kids finish school first, “Because I want them to enjoy their childhood.”
“It’s not that I didn’t enjoy mine, I just experienced it differently,” he began. “Camille and I were lucky because we had the full support of our parents, who were our core. I’m glad we turned out okay, even though we were exposed to different kinds of people and experiences—some unpleasant—in the biz.”
“Our parents weren’t with us 24/7, so we often had to cope with different situations on our own. When you’re on the set, for example, you will meet kids your age who would curse like it’s the normal thing to do. You will also meet people with different vices. We want our children to discover their own personalities first, outside show business,” he declared
Isabel said she and John want to make sure their children are connected to their cultural roots. “I’m half-Chinese, so we started teaching Feather how to speak Mandarin. My dad said this is important because this is the language that business people in the Philippines use,” said Isabel, who grew up in Cebu.
“Surprisingly, I didn’t have to really sit down with my kids to teach them Bisaya; they understand it. My youngest even gets the accent. For example, instead of saying, ‘I want to watch a movie,’ she would say, ‘mobe.’ She would say ‘et,’ instead of ‘eight.’ This may sound funny to others, but this is common in our household. We don’t laugh hearing these.”
Commitment
Meanwhile, Isabel thinks she and John are in sync in terms of how to raise their children because they work hard on their relationship, too. Of course they have pet peeves: Isabel hates it when John doesn’t hang his bath towels properly, while John gets irritated when, at a restaurant, Isabel pushes aside what she ordered and eats from his plate instead—but they adjust to each other’s quirks.
This was why, when asked to enumerate what they consider relationship deal-breakers, the couple couldn’t identify any. “I really can’t say because when it comes to love, you cannot set any boundaries. I guess a big no-no is when he already chooses to become an outlaw, a criminal,” Isabel said, laughing.
Marriage isn’t just about love, but also commitment, John pointed out. “We’re not in love with each other every day. There are days, too, when Liv imagines strangling me to death. No matter how mad we get, we choose to stay with each other. We manage this by accepting each other’s imperfections. For example, while Liv is a prudent money manager, ako sakto lang!”
When she reacted by screaming “Hoy,” John, laughing, responded with: “Okay, fine. I need to earn extra so I can go shopping.” INQ