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“Babe! Kain tayo ng Oyster sisig sa Locale! Ang sarap, grabe! I ate it last night and I want to have it for dinner again later,” says actress and my dear friend, Maxine Eigenmann thru a message she left on WhatsApp. People probably know her from her character named Abby Rickson in that teenage series called Lipgloss which, to be perfectly honest, I did not see one episode. Maybe I should, no? I’ll try to search for episodes online, I’m sure there are all over the web, that would be something that I could talk about with Max one of these days…over a huge bottle of tequila, or maybe not. She’s part of a family consisting of really talented people in the movie industry. Both her parents are actors. Her mom, Bing Pimentel, and her late great father Mark Gil met while they were shooting the classic movie Batch’81 by Mike de Leon.
Max is a single parent, a mother of two beautiful boys that she calls her “little monsters.” She loves spending time with them, and it’s so adorable to see how attentive she is with her kids. She and I got along well immediately because she’s very bubbly, loud, but never obnoxious. In an industry where her job is to embody someone else, Max is the most genuine in real life.
But I still want to get to know her better and I’m sure you do too, hence this pow wow. So we met at her place before heading to Locale at City Golf for dinner in which we ordered, yes, the Oyster sisig that was really delicious by the way. We then transferred to The Reserve Liquor Lounge, a stone’s throw away from where we ate, a place where you would usually see her chill with some of her friends and boyfriend who co-owns the place and who also spins there every Tuesday night. Faced with her poison of choice, and my ultimate adversary, a bottle of Tequila, I started asking her these series of questions. Read on!
HOW DID WE MEET?
Her Version:
Max: Oh shit! We met in UNO, right? At a photo shoot that I was assisting and styling. I wasn’t the model when we met. You were a shoot producer and it was in North Syquia at Juan Caguicla’s apartment. One sunny afternoon, in the middle of 2009!
My Version:
She’s right, that’s how we met. I don’t really remember who it was that we were shooting for UNO at that time since we shot a number of women for the magazine but yeah, I met her at North Syquia at the photographer’s place.
IF YOU CAN GIVE YOUR SISTER ANDI AN ADVICE ABOUT LOVE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Max: Love yourself first because you cannot find self-worth when you rely on what others think of you. You can’t base your self-worth on some guy who doesn’t love you anymore, and who’d make you feel that you’re worthless, no, you have to find that worth within yourself. I should know!
WHAT’S THE BEST THING THAT YOU’VE LEARNED FROM YOUR MOM AND YOUR DAD?
Max: I grew up with my mom; she raised me to be very well-mannered and to respect my elders. She would always tell me before, if you don’t have anything nice to say, just don’t say anything at all. My dad taught me how to not take life too seriously, because life as a whole is already very serious and complicated. One of the things that my dad told me also, especially when I entered the entertainment industry, was to always keep my feet on the ground, and to love my job so that it would love me back.
WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU STOP DRINKING ALCOHOL?
Max: What kind of a question is that?! Ha ha! My boyfriend owns a bar! I enjoy alcohol e, it’s kind of part of my lifestyle, pero what would make me stop?
Me: Of course there would be something?
Max: To be honest, at this point, I don’t know. That’s an honest answer. Maybe what would make me stop? If I wanted to. I mean I know I have to tone it down a bit. You know what? This is unfair! Because the person interviewing me knows me too well! You know how to ask the right questions.
Me: Well, I don’t know these things about you that’s why I’m asking them. Ha Ha!
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF BEING A MOM?
Max: Oh my goodness! There’s always something to be proud of and you never lose something to fight for, something to do good for, those are the best things of being a mom. And you always have something to share your accomplishments with. Oh, and mga kisses nila.
WHAT KIND OF MEN DO YOU WANT YOUR KIDS TO BE WHEN THEY GROW UP?
Max: I want them to be respectable boys. As brothers, I hope that they can be good influence to each other and that they grow up not fighting. That they know that they’ll always have each other’s backs. And I hope that when they grow up, when they…OH MY GOD! Ayokong isipin! Shit!
Me: Tanggapin mo na!
Max: When they end up with someone, I hope that they would treat them well, and that they’d end up to be good husbands, and to keep being good sons, and just mainly to be good people lang. Mahirap na question yan kasi ayoko pang isipin na tumatanda na sila.
WHO WOULD YOU RATHER SPEND AN ENTIRE DAY WITH, THE GUY THAT YOU REALLY LIKE OR THE GIRL THAT YOU REALLY LIKE?
Max: The guy that I really like because I’ve come to realize, that after 27 years, that I’m really a girl. You can say that in your blog! I think I was just really experimenting for a long time, and I like the attention, that’s for sure, attention seeker ako e, so I like the attention that I get from both guys and girls. But it came to a point that I realized that I’m straight as an arrow! I really, really like your questions! Ha ha!
WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING PART OF A HUGE, POPULAR CLAN AND WHAT’S THE WORST PART OF IT?
Max: The best part of being in a huge clan is that kapag may kaaway kang isa, palagi kang may kakampi. Ha ha! We’re a big family and the best part of it is that we’re really, really close to each other. A lot of people get shocked about the fact na, di ba ang dami naming half siblings? Bakit ang close naming lahat? I guess that was courtesy of my dad and us also, we don’t look at it that way na komo half siblings kami, we shouldn’t be close to each other. The worst part would be since almost everyone is in the same business is that we’re always being watched. Everybody has something to say and everything that we do sometimes get misunderstood. And that really affects us.
WHY IS TEQUILA YOUR FAVORITE DRINK?
Max: Because it makes me very happy, and not sloppy. Vodka makes me chill but then I get sleepy fast. Wine gives me a very big headache the next day. Don’t get me wrong, I like to drink everything but tequila is really my favorite because it’s the only drink that I can last the whole night, if I don’t mix it with anything else.
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