Janelle Manahan: New life, new love

MANILA, Philippines—The Janelle Manahan who sat down with the Inquirer multi-platform team was a far cry from the weeping victim whose boyfriend, Ramgen Revilla, was mercilessly shot, stabbed and killed in their own bedroom almost two years ago.

Manahan herself sustained serious, almost disfiguring, injuries—gun shots to the face and shoulder—not to mention a damaged relationship with her late boyfriend’s family.

These days, however, Manahan is no longer shedding tears on primetime news.

On Monday night, she graced the red-carpet premiere of her debut movie, Ian del Carmen’s “Bad Romance” (currently showing in 11 SM Cinemas in Metro Manila, Cebu and Iloilo)—which top-bills Mercedes Cabral, Aiza Seguerra, Francis Lopez, Archie Alemania and Rey “PJ” Abellana.

She is also busy with her new job—in a real estate company.

She had just moved into her own flat, too.

Candidly, she admitted that she had just found a new love as well—with a non-showbiz guy who accompanied her to the “Bad Romance” premiere night at SM Megamall.

They’ve been together for just three months and yet her mom is already excited to meet him, she volunteered.

Clearly, Manahan is moving on and moving forward.

She has changed a lot, as an actress and as a woman, since that unfortunate incident, Direk Ian pointed out.

She has grown up in fast-forward motion, Manahan herself owned up.

Is she considering a showbiz comeback?

“I don’t know. I’ve already experienced show business,” she said. “I don’t think it should be a full-time career for me. I’m not a big star who’s always busy with different projects. If there are offers, why not? But I’d rather have a real job or a business of my own. After everything that happened to me, I’ve learned to be cautious and to play it safe. I always want to have a fallback.”

Meet pragmatic yet promising Janelle Manahan.