Have you been keeping up with “The Broken Marriage Vow” lately? The “Doctor Foster” and “World of the Married” adaptation has been a pretty fun watch with the stylish costuming and engaging plot. Everyone loves a good, slow burn, “hell hath no fury than a woman scorned” revenge show.
So far, we’ve seen Dr. Jill Ilustre, played by Jodi Sta. Maria, slowly (and painfully) uncover her husband’s cheating and her friends’ betrayal. Her husband, played by Zanjoe Marudo (it’s been a while!), it turns out, is cheating on her with a younger woman Lexy, played by Sue Ramirez. Aside from the obvious awfulness of being cheated on, imagine also having to deal with your own friends lying to your face and being buddy-buddy with the person your partner is cheating with you on. The audacity!
ABS-CBN just released the mid-season trailer of the series on Feb. 24, showing snippets of Jill’s revenge. It’s pretty juicy. “Tapos na ang pappapasensya,” the trailer intones.
If you’ve seen “Doctor Foster” and “World of the Married,” heads up: *that* scene is coming. Spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen either yet, but Jill’s going to go off on her husband’s mistress during a dinner party with the mistress’s parents. Based on the trailer, that scene looks like it’s going to be a lot grander here, too.
“Walang-hiya ka,” says Lexy (again, the audacity) at the dinner table. “Walang-hiyang galit na galit sa’yo,” Jill fires back. Explosive!
We’re excited to see how Sta. Maria is going to pull it off. So far, she’s bringing a lot of pathos to the show, keeping it from being a one-note revenge fantasy. That possibly might be because she’s no stranger to having a marriage collapse.
In an interview with Karen Davila in early February, Sta. Maria shared that the role hit “so close to home” for her. She had been previously married to Pampi Lacson, son of Senator Panfilo Lacson Sr.
“Hindi naman kaila sa lahat na I am separated, na ‘Broken Marriage Vow’ din talaga ako in real life. It is something na nangyari sa life ko na masasabi ko na isa sa pinaka-painful. Hindi ka naman papasok sa isang commitment or isang covenant para lang masira,” she said. “During that time when my marriage did not work out, I felt like I was the biggest failure or the biggest joke. Ganun ‘yung pakiramdam ko. Nagkaroon ako ng feeling of shame, of guilt na shucks, nakakahiya. Hindi ko naayos.”
Did she experience the same things that her character did? “Alam mo siguro, hindi ko sasabihing hindi,” she told Davila, saying, “Kasi maraming mga sitwasyon na hindi nag-work sa favor ko. Marami ring mga tao na nakapanakit sa [akin] and I guess that’s normal ‘cause we live in a broken world filled with wounded people. Realidad ’yun. Pero nasa perspective mo kung magiging biktima ka or victor ka ng pangyayari.”
Unlike her character, however, she healed through forgiveness, not revenge. A little partying helped, too. “I did a lot of partying just to drown down all the pain and forget.”
Consecutive projects also kept her busy, but unlike her character, Sta. Maria chose inner peace for their son Thirdy. Handling her ex’s new relationship has been drama-free too: She’s been on good terms with Lacson Jr. and his current partner Iwa Moto.
Photo screengrabbed from “The Broken Marriage Vow”
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