In her recent vlog, BB Gandanghari admitted that his old persona Rustom Padlla really loved his ex-wife Carmina Villaroel and said that he would court her again if things were not ‘this’ complicated.
She also revealed that a part of Rustom was lost when his marriage with Carmina ended.
Because of this confession, the reason of Carmina’s exit to ‘Palibhasa Lalake’ was recalled.
Palibhasa Lalake was a sitcom that ran from 1987 to 1998 on ABS-CBN. Directed by Johnny Manahan, the said sitcom featured a powerhouse cast composed of Richard Gomez, Joey Marquez, Miguel Rodriguez, Edu Manzano, Patrick Joseph Banez, John Estrada, Anjo Yllana, Gloria Romero, Arlene Muhlach, Amy Perez, Cynthia Patag, and of course, Carmina Villaroel.
Carmina played the role of ‘Cathy’ who was the younger sister of ‘Ricky,’ Richard’s character. However, Carmina had a disagreement with her fellow cast members, Richard and John, over her relationship with then-boyfriend Rustom.
Back in 2014, the 44-year-old actress mentioned that her relationship became the subject of jokes on set as the two actors were teasing her about the gender preference of Rustom. Later on, the “tampuhan” grew worse and even became a national issue which led to her decision to leave the show in 1993.
“That time, medyo serious na ‘yung tampuhan… Actually, kung ako lang talaga ang masusunod, tampo but mapapatawad ko. But since may ibang tao nang involved, I had to choose between them and [my boyfriend],” she said.
“They also made a choice to let me go because lumaki na, e. Lumaki na hindi na siya yung parang internal problem. Oo, national issue na, e! It was just so sad that I had to leave, and, obviously, I chose the other one kaysa doon sa show,” she added.
She also admitted that her decision to leave really saddened her for it was her first regular show in the Kapamilya network. But before the sitcom ended its run, Carmina was invited as a guest, and there, they settled their indifferences.
“They decided na, ‘Uy, I guest naman natin si Mina, for old times’ sake, parang reunion.’ And before I guested, we were okay na, pero hindi pa kami nagkakakitaan personally. Pero siyempre namatay na iyong issue ang tagal na noon, ganyan,” the actress shared.
Back then, she was already with the rival network, GMA Network, and under the management of Viva.
In 2019, Carmina and John had a chance to work together in the Kapuso fantasy series Kara Mia starring Barbie Forteza and Mika Dela Cruz. The actress said she and the actor already ironed out the past conflict.