SHOCK: Sunshine Cruz reveals the nightmare on her honeymoon, the violence that led to the breakup of her marriage: “I had to endure the storms that worsened my psychology.”
Sunshine Cruz reveals honeymoon nightmare, abuse leading to marriage breakdown
Sunshine Cruz on wedding to Cesar Montano: “I was thinking that when you get married, it’ll be a fairytale, and we’ll live happily ever after. You’ll have children, and we’ll be happy. That’s how I thought then.”
I’m so happy right now, I’ll forgive all my enemies, even those who owe me money! Just for today, huh!” a grinning Sunshine Cruz says within minutes of welcoming the Philippine Entertainment Portal.
This was on September 18, 2018–the day PEP.ph was in Sunshine’s Paranaque home, following two postponements, for an exclusive pictorial of the residence that the Kapuso star had built for herself and her children.
It was also, it turned out, the day Sunshine got word that the court had finally come out with its ruling on her petition to have her marriage to Cesar Montano annulled.
After a four-year legal battle with Cesar, the court had finally ended their tumultuous 13-year marriage.
Sunshine was now, officially, on her own again, except that now she had three daughters–Angelina Isabelle, 17; Samantha, 14; Chesca, 12–all by Cesar.
“Annulled na ako!” the Kapuso star exclaims as she descends the stairs from her bedroom to greet PEP.
Like a young girl telling a story, she trills, “I really screamed when I found out. That loud scream, I could hear it all the way down! The whole house was shocked!”
And, what was supposed to be a house shoot and regular interview–by a reportorial team headed by PEP.ph editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Maglipon–turned into a baring of the heart by the 41-year-old star, on her first official day back as a single woman.
FAIRYTALE WEDDING
Sunshine was 23 years old when she married Cesar on September 14, 2000.
He was then, at 38, fifteen years her senior, but everyone in showbiz seemed to think everything was in its place for the bride and groom.
Theirs was a grand, high-profile wedding set against the sunset of Manila Bay, to which a veritable who’s-who of showbiz and select politicians had been invited as sponsors and guests.
Shine–Sunshine’s nickname–wore a princess-cut gown made of duchess satin, with intricate details of silk chording, beadwork, and cutwork at the hem, and a 20-foot-long train.
Buboy–Cesar’s nickname–was quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer saying the Eric Pineda creation for his bride was a “very expensive gown.” It reportedly cost in the vicinity of half-a-million pesos.
A COUPLE IN LOVE
Underlying all this, of course, was the big news: This was for real. A romance between two very attractive and well-regarded showbiz stars, walking down the aisle and toward the altar, looking truly in love with each other.
Indeed, they were.
“I know, I know that he really loved me, alam ko yun,” Sunshine says today.
“He wouldn’t have married me if he didn’t love me–and I love him so much, I really fell for him.
“I was really moved by him, especially when he made me watch Jose Rizal. ”
Jose Rizal was the big GMA Films’ release of 1998, directed by Marilou Diaz Abaya, starring Cesar as the country’s national hero.
Sunshine recalls, “It was like, shucks, right? Someone like that is courting me.
“He was really charming, really sympathetic, and also really handsome. Then, he was a very good actor.
“And that’s it, I just believed him when he said, ‘I’m tired of the nonsense, of the womanizing.’”
Sunshine recounts that this was also the line that Cesar used with her dad, 747 band leader Danny Cruz, to win him over to his side.
“That’s what he said to my father before.”
“He visited my dad that time at the Mandarin Hotel because my dad was playing there, no, my dad’s band.
“And Papa actually told him, ‘Cesar, I really don’t like you. Because if you’re a womanizer, I’m a womanizer too,’ he said.
“And, he said to my dad, ‘Hey, sir, I’m sorry if your son is the one who will be the one to make me change.’
“So, isn’t it true that the girls are really thinking, ‘Maybe I’m the one who can change him.’”
She sees now that it was that mindset (she was the girl to change him) and her view of her parents as “role models” (her parents stayed married until her father died in 2003) that made her stay with Cesar through 13 years of marital blues, a number of them turbulent.
“My mom and dad really became my peg,” Sunshine says.
“They married at an early age. My mom, Dad was also her first boyfriend.”
“She was a caring wife and mom to the children. So that’s my peg—that I gave up showbiz, and my only plan was to take care of my family.”
“Though it was hard for me because, of course, my mom pampered me, eh…Even the bed, I don’t fold it. Even cooking an egg, I don’t know how.
“So that’s what it’s like, I was thinking that when you get married, it’ll be a fairytale, and we’ll live happily ever after.”
“You’ll have children, and we’ll be happy. That’s what I thought back then.”
HONEYMOON NIGHTMARE
It did not take long, Sunshine says, for her to discover that married life was not what she had imagined or hoped it would be.
“It hurts to admit it, but it was only our honeymoon,” she says in tones tinged with hurt, “he threw our wedding ring away, when we went on a Caribbean cruise.”
