'Weighty' Issues

Judy Ann never got the chance to meet her idol Julie Vega, but she almost felt like she did because some of the people Vega worked with on Anna Liza, like Renato del Prado and Juan Rodrigo, she worked with in Mara Clara. These people became her surrogate parents. One of the things they advised her to do was lose weight -- systematically and under medical supervision, since there had been insinuations that Vega's death was related to crash dieting. "Since tatay-tatayan ko naman ang marami sa kanila noon, ang palaging inaano nila sa akin is magpapayat. Kaya feeling ko noon, nararamdaman ko yung sinasabi kay Julie Vega."

And yet, Judy Ann didn't give in to the pressure. She honestly didn't think she was fat. When she was younger, she didn't go on any diets. She refused to, thinking there was no reason to deprive herself of the pleasures of food because she was still young. That was something she could worry about later, when she entered her teens. So she went on her merry way, eating what she pleased and rationalizing that by telling herself she would only be young once, and that there would be plenty of time to worry about her weight later. That time, like most young people, she was determined to live in the moment. "Mahal ko ang pagkain; puwede akong magpakasal sa pagkain. So naisip ko, bakit ko ide-deprive ang kabataan ko, eh hindi na ako makakabalik sa youth, di ba? So sabi ko, I might as well enjoy kung ano yung nandyan and then saka ko na lang aasikasuhin [ang pag-diet] kapag medyo dalaga na ako."

She grew bigger and bigger. But she still wasn't alarmed, not even when she hit her teens, and entertainment reporters started calling her names like "siopao", "mamon" and "aparador" in their columns. Still, the reaction wasn't instantaneous. These comments didn't really make her feel fat, nor did they make her feel insecure about herself or her weight. "Never ako naging insecure na mataba ako. Nung mataba ako, hindi ko naman naisip na mataba ako. Feeling ko pa rin naman sexy ako. Kahit mataba ako, feeling ko payat ako, mas payat lang kayo sa akin."

Judy Ann was as good as her word. She promised that one day, when she was older, she would lose the weight, and she did. It was the 2001 film Bakit Di Totohanin, where she played the role of a boxer, that got her started--not on dieting, but on the pleasures of working out. She learned how to do kickboxing and Muay Thai. She would get up in the morning, go to the gym and work ouot. Even after the movie ended, she kept on working out. "Na-enjoy ko lang din yung pag-wo-work out noon, kaya ako pumayat," she says.

She knew she had met her goal when soon a slimming capsule signed her up to be its celebrity endorser. Now, looking back, she has acquired enough confidence to laugh at herself. "Pagkalipas ng maraming taon, natatawa na lang ako. Kapag napapanood ko ang mga pelikula ko noon, nakakatawa naman talaga ang itsura ko," she quips. "Kahit ako, sinasabi ko, paano ako naging artista? Pero it was a phase of my life that I never regretted."

Taken from Starstudio magazine: Judy Ann Santos special issue