How stars handle—and hurdle—burnout

Fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It can sometimes be lonely at the top, as Sharon Cuneta’s recent angst-ridden Facebook posts prove.

Beneath the glitz and glamour, celebrities also ache to be regarded as persons, not just “personalities.”
Actors reach a point where they feel like robots at the disposal of producers, directors and their fans. Once in a while, stars need to step away from the dizzying show biz circus lest they self-destruct.

Celebs share with the Inquirer their “burnout” stories:

Dawn Zulueta

DAWN ZULUETA: I experienced “job burnout” in my mid-20s, at the height of my career. I was working nonstop and didn’t allow myself to enjoy the rewards of my hard work.
That was when I decided to leave the limelight, to work on “quality of life.” I eventually decided to get married, and that opened up new doors to “rediscovery.”

NOEL Cabangon

NOEL CABANGON: It wasn’t so long ago when I felt burned out. I was very unproductive and had no drive. I wasn’t writing any song. I knew it was because of a lot of frustrations. But it was good that I had regular gigs and was doing some sports. I sang the blues out of me, although it didn’t go away that easily.

Rita Avila

RITA AVILA: I felt it before I got married in 2003. It wasn’t easy to have a director as a boyfriend. Some people had nasty and mean thoughts. That was the only time I truly thought that show business was ungrateful. I wished for a quiet married life, but after losing our son, I knew I had to work again. I worked with less passion then, and I sometimes felt I had to walk on broken glass.

Later on, working with kind people and being trusted with good roles made me appreciate my job again, thanks to GMA 7, ABS-CBN and TV5. Working with my husband after 15 years ushered in a new light. There was much respect for us this time. God is wonderful, indeed.

Jestoni Alarcon

JESTONI ALARCON: When our location is out of town, it’s quite tiring to drive to work. And when shooting ends in the wee hours of the morning, it is draining because my body needs time to recover, especially when you’re taping on a daily basis.

Jose Javier Reyes

JOSE JAVIER REYES: Burning out is when you allow yourself to be pigeonholed by the audience and the powers that be in doing exactly the same thing over and over again. In a highly competitive business, you’re forced to do more of the same as long as you sell, but the moment you fail to deliver the numbers (whether in ratings or box-office figures), you can bet the rest of your reincarnation you’ll be spat out or branded as a has-been.
That’s why I’d rather sit back and do what I want to do in connivance with a producer who sees me as a creative partner and not a mere employee. You need to find people who believe in reinvention and innovation in order not to be trapped in that quagmire of creative atrophy. Before people get tired of you, you get tired of yourself.

John Arcilla

JOHN ARCILLA: I’ve been performing from elementary to college. Then, I became a company actor of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1990. It was in 1996 when I first received a best actor award that brought me some sort of misery. It led to a nasty rumor that I became swell-headed and difficult just because I brag about my theater background.

So, nobody was hiring me. My happiness was more important than my acting ability, so I prayed deeply and asked God to take all of it away. Make me a restaurant crew, instead?

I just needed to be happy, with a peaceful heart and mind. I wanted to be a person of worth to others. Then, I became a talent caster for [the agency] Foote Cone and Belding for a year. Then came ABS-CBN’s Lauren Dyogi, who watched a lot of my shows in CCP when he was still a student. He took a chance on me. It was only after my first TV project with him that he had proven the rumor was baseless. After that, fate led me to another direction.

PERSONAL: Belated happy birthday to my cool friend, Royce Roy.