How hunks JC de Vera and RK Bagatsing mend their broken hearts

JC de Vera and RK Bagatsing

That’s the worst feeling I’ve ever experienced when it came to love.”

Thus said actor JC de Vera when asked to recall one of the most painful heartbreaks he has ever experienced. “I don’t want to experience it ever again. Because of love, I came to a point when I had to challenge another guy to a fistfight. I think that’s the ugliest experience I’ve ever had in relation to romantic love. That was the craziest rumble I’ve had. I swear that will be the first and the last,” recalled the actor, who is currently promoting the digital series “The Goodbye Girl.”

“How I’ve managed to move on? I gave time for myself to feel, to breathe, to take things one day at a time,” JC recalled.

“They say that if you want to change something in your life, it will take you 21 days to turn that something into a habit or routine. I say the first week is going to be the hardest. You just really need to put a lot of effort into it. You have to learn to love yourself,” the actor advised.

Loving one’s self could be in the form of “getting a drink with your friends or leaning on your family for comfort. It could be a lot of things,” said JC. “I guess people find it hard to move on because they don’t give themselves enough time. It’s all about disciplining yourself, making that effort. One day, you’ll be surprised that you’re already fine.”

The actor is now happily married to Rikka Alyssa Cruz and has a young daughter named Lana.

JC (left) with daughter Lana and wife Rikka

Goodbye Girl

JC is one of Angelica Panganiban’s leading men in Derick Cabrido’s romantic comedy series “The Goodbye Girl,” which is currently streaming on iWantTFC. Based on the book of the same name by best-selling author Noreen Capili, the series illustrates the five types of heartbroken women. The show is narrated by Yanna (Angelica), a financial advisor-turned-author whose world crumbles when her husband, Y (RK), announces that he will be leaving her for his one great love. Yanna later gets a book deal from a charming publisher named Jeff (JC) to write about the stories her followers have shared with her and the advice she’s given them.

Who would he rather be in a failed romantic relationship, the person who leaves or the one who gets left behind?

“They’re both painful to deal with, but based on my experience, it’s harder to be the one who leaves,” JC said. “This is because, at the end of the day, you will be left to deal with your regrets. You will have to answer your ‘what if?’ questions. This is unlike if you’re the one who got left behind—you know that you gave the relationship your all.”

Also recalling one of his toughest breakups, RK said there’s this one particular incident that happened shortly before the holiday season many years back. “I didn’t have time to really dwell on it because there were too many distractions. A lot of things were happening for a month, like parties, birthdays, get-togethers, my sister visiting from the United States,” he recalled. “I was trying to push back everything, including the painful thoughts of her. So after the holidays, when everything became quiet, that’s when all the emotions that I’ve set aside came rushing back in.”

RK (left) with girlfriend Jane Oineza

‘You’re not a failure’

“The lesson here is that you just have to face it head-on, give yourself time to grieve about it, to be sad, because you’re only human. The relationship might have not worked well; this doesn’t mean you’re a failure as a person. Let this serve as a good lesson for you to be better. As they say, one day you’ll find your better half; but right now, you have to be a better version of yourself first,” he said.

RK has been dating actress Jane Oineza since late 2021.

When asked to recall the “most creative excuse” he has ever come up with for breaking up with a girl, RK said: “I don’t think there’s any. You really have to sit down with that person and be honest to her.”

When it came to the “most fulfilling goodbye” he has ever done, RK replied: “I think that we try to be the better version of ourselves every day; so I think the ‘most fulfilling goodbye’ I’ve made was when I bid farewell to my older version, the one who had quirks that I didn’t like.”

On what one can learn from watching “The Goodbye Girl,” he shared: “From what I’ve read in the script, when a person you’ve been with for so long decides to leave you, you also feel like you’ve lost your identity.”

“What’s beautiful about the episodes here is that each presents different experiences of different types of women,” said RK. “What’s best is that you learn from these characters, who picked up themselves and moved on. I don’t want to be a spoiler, but it’s really about finding yourself, moving forward, and rediscovering what you want.”