Judy Ann: ‘My trust with Ryan now is more than I trust myself’
METRO Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2024 best actress winner Judy Ann Santos Agoncillo never gets complacent with whatever job that she does. More so in every film that she did even from years ago, she always felt she needed to do something better or she could have done something different.
“I am not really a good gauge of the film I’m doing,” Judy Ann maintained. “Even from years ago, in every film that I did, ang feeling ko, I could have done something better or I could have thought of a different nuance for the film.”
In 2019, Judy Ann bagged the MMFF best actress award for Brillante Mendoza’s war drama, Mindanao. She leads the star-studded cast of this year’s MMFF entry, Espantaho, with director Chito Roño at the helm.
“I think that’s a good thing because you don’t really get complacent with your job,” admitted Judy Ann. “You are always on your toes whatever part of the job is given to you.”
Whenever direk Chito said, ‘Okay, change set up,’ I always wait for that,” Judy Ann said. “That means I did a good job. He will not easily let you go from one scene to another if he’s not really happy with what you did.
“But if you really need to make the scene better, he would also tell you. Even in cooking, I don’t see anything great in the dishes I prepared. I have many doubts about myself, my work. I think that’s always a good thing.”
Judy Ann exudes a different glow these days. Not that she was not good looking before. “Compared to before, I have more confidence now about myself,” the actress said.
“Maybe because I’m really happy and I can do everything that I want – that may be cliché again – in the right time that you want. I have time being a mother, a wife, a chef, an actress. If I can do all that and still give time to myself, the happiness comes out naturally.
“I’m really very fortunate with the team that’s with me now. They know the maximum energy that I can deliver. They know what I like. I can work straight as long as I’m able to perform my routine with my kids and my husband.”
Judy Ann only requires a one-day rest even if she works every day. “I’m okay with working straight every day, just give me a one day rest,” she said. “That’s my recipe for a contented life.”
When it comes to her recipe for beauty, Judy Ann refuses to do anything invasive to her face and body. “I do Ulthera for my face,” she said.
“But nothing surgical because takot ako sa surgery. The only surgery I did was when I had CS (Caesarian Section) when I gave birth.”
However, Judy Ann doesn’t close the doors to modern technology when it comes to beauty. “There are really modern and advanced machines to make you really look good,” Judy Ann said.
“It’s a good factor that I go to a good doctor, Dr. Aivee (Teo). They are the ones who recommend the machines and the treatments I need to do. The know that I’m afraid to do invasive surgeries and treatments.
“I only do Ulthera for my face. Masakit ang Ulthera, but it contours your face. Para kang sinasapak at kinukuryente ng rubber band. But ang ganda-ganda ng effect. So tinitiis ko. No pain, no gain. Tiis-ganda lang ako.”
She bloated to 190 pounds, her heaviest, when she got pregnant with her youngest baby, Luna, nine years ago. “Maybe I just perfected the rhythm what my body could really take,” Judy Ann explained.
“It is only now when I got to achieve the weight that I want to. I’m now 128 pounds. But before I achieved that, it was difficult for me. It took me three years to start losing weight because I was Caesarian. I got really sad but I don’t want to disregard my weight.
“Ano ba ang kaya ng body ko, diet or weight program applicable to my state of mind. I realized, when I detox every other month, you could remove toxins. I could go into meditation or do yoga.
“Today, truth be told, I cannot do yoga regularly. My diet today, is mostly clean eating. But I still get to binge. I allow myself to eat whatever I crave for. When I decide to have clean eating from this week to a certain week, I really do that.”
She goes vegan for three days and juicing for four days. Then, she takes Ayurvedic (Indian) food for four days. She relies on the nutritional programs of Chechel Joson, from drinks to juices to smoothies.
Even on the set, when Judy Ann goes on detox, she brings her food. The food that she cooks, she gets to taste them, but never eats anything.
“When I decided to go fasting, my goal was to go cleansing and remove toxins from my body,” Judy Ann disclosed. “Wala akong energy at that time. I easily got peeved. I know myself. I’m not like that. As a talent of Tito Alfie (Lorenzo), I don’t have patience.”
Two years ago, towards the end of pandemic, Judy Ann decided to go cleansing. So she did all the thorough cleansing needed and focused on wellness.
“I really want to feel better,” she said. “I don’t want to pile up my anger to another person. That makes you feel bad. I don’t want that feeling that I will upset another person, especially my children or my husband. They get involved in my state of mind at that time.”
Judy Ann simply wants to be healthy. Although she still binges once in a while. “Chechel was the key for me,” she asserted. “She would send smoothies, which she interchanges for dinner.
“I need to have two hours of rest before I sleep after dinner,” Judy Ann said. “So in those times when eating hours are not observed, smoothie can be the substitute or even pomelo.”
Occasionally, Judy Ann still craves for food that she loves, from burgers to pizza. “I still eat junk food and I still allow myself to eat those food,” she said. “I don’t want to deprive myself.
“I make it a point that when I do that, I’m done with my detox or finished with my juicing. That’s a sacred time for me. I really love to eat. I love food. I want to achieve that energy throughout the months that I get to work.”
Sometimes, she goes with her hubby Ryan, when he works out. “He really loves to work out,” Judy Ann said. “He’s very disciplined. He does OMAD (one meal a day) after doing intermittent fasting for 16 hours, then works our every other day. He is really disciplined when it comes to his workouts.
“He gets to convince me to work out. We have equipment at home. Ako na lang ang kulang. If only those equipment could talk, maybe they will chastise me. If I get to watch a documentary on health and fitness, the following day, you will see me on the tread mill.”
Judy Ann tried maintenance for losing weight as prescribed by Dr. Aivee. “I got the rhythm. You need to jumpstart but once you get the rhythm, you can leave it. There are so many ways to lose weight. It’s up to you what way or system your body can do.”
The actress admitted she looks her best at this point. “Maybe I’m at my happiest also,” she said. “This is the most contented stage in my life. I am really grateful now. How I got to this point? I really can’t tell. I really don’t know.
“You need to learn a lot of things. Let go some things. Learn even the pains you had to go through and realizations until you reached that satisfaction or contentment that you probably don’t realize that’s the contentment you are looking for.”
Her prayers every night is for her children to have a better future and have a great options in life. Ryan and I want to see the profession they will pursue when they get older. Our work now is really for them.
“My husband leaves the acting to me because he knows how I miss acting. We don’t really need to talk about it because that is not a problem to begin with.
“As long as you trust your marriage, you respect each other’s time and respective personality, the center of your relationship is each other and God, you are both anchored properly as a couple.
“It’s important, too, that you have your respective work and do that every day. At the end of the day, there are still the two of you together, as long as you have faith in each other, you respect each other’s time and you have regular communication.
Through the 15 years in their marriage, Judy Ann does not deny they continue to weather issues as a couple. “There are no big or small issues. Our love is probably more intense now. You cannot predict anything. My trust with Ryan now is more than I trust myself.
“When there’s an issue, either miscommunication or a fight, that’s serious. Mabigat. Parang sakit ng ngipin that goes straight into your head and spreads to your body. You cannot think or function. But Ryan and I have both matured.
“We are now able to talk about things properly without raising our voices. We value each other’s emotions. Hindi tayo matutulog without settling an issue. Hindi kami gano’n. There are moments when you say things that you regret later on.
“Both of you are in pain, very emotional and the issue was really the reason of your misunderstanding. We’d rather sleep on it and think about it. The following day, you both have realizations about what happened and why. But you are both calm and peaceful.
“Other people are advising us not to sleep without settling the issue. We tried to do that, but we were both tired and lacked sleep. We really didn’t understand each other at that time.”
Loyalty comes with trust for Judy Ann. “Every person is different,” she said. “Sala sa init, sala sa lamig. When you showed that you really trust, he can get complacent. But if you showed that you’re really hard on him, he will leave you.
“I guess that depends on the couple how they will balance the trust, faithfulness and loyalty. As a couple, if you trust each other, you have to allow each other to grow individually. There are just too many temptations now. You have to talk about it.”
The stellar cast of Espantaho include Lorna Tolentino, Chanda Romero, Janice de Belen, JC Santos, Eugene Domingo, Tommy Abuel, Mon Confiado, Nico Antonio and Kian Co. The film is one of the ten official entries in this year’s MMFF.
