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Bimby interviews his mother Kris Aquino about a range of topics, including the actress’ past marriage with Bimby’s father, James Yap. Facebook: Kris Aquino

MANILA — In a heart-to-heart interview with her son, Bimby, actress-host Kris Aquino opened up about her past marriage with his father, basketball player James Yap, and why it ended.

In what she described as a “last hurrah” before her family steps away from the limelight, Aquino shared on Thursday the first of two parts of her interview with Bimby.

They each had seven questions for each other, in light of Bimby recently turning 14. The first part saw Bimby asking his share of questions for his mother.

Bimby’s first pertained to his mother’s marriage with Yap: “What did you think when you married my dad?”

“Honestly, I just took the jump. As in, leap of faith,” Aquino said. “Maybe I had that hang-up, because the first two serious relationships… The dad of your Kuya was not yet annulled, and the next one was also not annulled.”

Aquino and Yap had a civil wedding in 2005. They welcomed Bimby two years later in 2007.

The father of Aquino’s older son, Joshua, is former action star Phillip Salvador. Aquino’s known former boyfriends, prior to Yap, include Robin Padilla and Joey Marquez.

 

Speaking with Bimby, Aquino said: “What made your dad special, initially he trusted me by telling me something that he didn’t have to tell me.

“I don’t want to dwell on it because it’s so way back in the past, and I think the people involved there should be allowed to have their privacy. I was impressed kasi he did not wait for me to hear about it from other people, or read about it in the tabloids.”

Aquino did not detail what Yap had told her then.

Aquino surmised that, combined, her “hang-up” about marriage and Yap’s “bravery” owing to his youth, nudged them towards the decision of exchanging vows.

“Your dad was very young at the time. You’re a lot braver when you’re young. I think I was at place naman na I felt I wanted to be married. I was 34, your dad was 11 years younger,” she said.

Her age gap with Yap, Aquino recalled, was a factor in their marriage eventually ending. They separated in 2010, and their marriage was annulled two years later in 2012.

“I thought it could work. I honestly thought it could work, not realizing he was too young. We really came from two very different worlds. I wanted it to work,” she said.

Former couple Kris Aquino and James Yap pose with their son Bimby in February 2010, just four months before their separation. FILE

She then told Bimby that Yap had told her once that she was his “childhood crush,” adding, in jest, that that should have been her “warning.”

Facing the camera and addressing her viewers, she quipped, “So never go out with someone who tells you, ikaw ‘yung childhood crush!”

Yap is currently married to Italian national Michela Cazzola, with whom he has two children.

Bimby’s interview with his mother also touched on Aquino’s failed relationship with actor-politician Herbert Bautista. She recalled that they had an “intellectual” separation, not an emotional one, and emphasized that she has “no bitterness” despite them being no longer friends.

Bimby also quizzed his mother on her first love (Alvin Patrimonio, whom she insisted was just a “crush”), her take on the meaning of true love (“easy,” and “requires no sacrifice”), and whether she is still open to getting married (yes, granted her sons would allow her; Bimby agreed).

They also talked about Aquino’s favorite dish to cook for her sons (meatballs), and her favorite drink (aside from milk, ginger ale).

“I am so proud,” Aquino said of her son, in the description of the video on Facebook. “Mas matalino, mas matatag, mas malawak ang pang-unawa ng bunso ko kumpara sa mama niya when I was his age, and even now in many ways, he really is the better than me!”