Time and time again, my good friend Ruffa Gutierrez has proven that you can’t put a good woman down. By now, everybody has probably heard about her messy breakup from her Turkish ex-husband Yilmaz Bektas. And I’m sure a lot of people have their own opinions about the domestic dispute and other issues that have branched out as a result of them.
As someone close to Ruffa, I was witness to her personal struggles. I first met her when she was a 15-year-old girl with her mom Annabelle. Even then, I viewed her as a kind-hearted and nice person.
Over the years, Ruffa and I forged a tight bond that can only be built by sharing common experiences. I’m close to the Gutierrez family because we’ve been present in each other’s lives in both low and high points.
Back then, I was just bouncing back from a turbulent career/financial crash when the Gutierrez family was also trying to start a new life here in Los Angeles. We went through the same challenges as we tried to reinvent our lives.
I vividly remember picking up the Gutierrez family (Eddie, Annabelle, the twins, and Ruffa) from the Royal Hotel in my beat-down station wagon. Siksikan talaga kami sa kotse on our way to my salon on Beverly Blvd.
I would give them haircuts. We would share a humble meal of fried galunggong and rice that we ate with our bare hands. Afterwards, I would drive them back to their hotel. Those were simpler times!
Ruffa went on to become a sought-after actress and international beauty queen but she would still come back to the states, where she enjoyed relative anonymity, away from the maddening crowd and chismis.
I saw the multi-faceted Ruffs, as I call her, throughout the years. There’s the fun-loving Ruffa that I went out to clubs with. There’s the kind-hearted Ruffa who has passion for helping the less fortunate. And then there’s the Ruffa who fell in love with a young, handsome guy named Richard and on impulse married him in Las Vegas. That marriage, needless to say, did not work out.
Then Ruffa took up a job with Century Productions that took her all over the world to cover events.
One night when she was in Cannes to cover a film festival, I received a call and it was her on the other end giggling like a schoolgirl. She was talking about this guy named Yilmaz whom she swore to me was “the one.” I was so thrilled for her.
They invited me to come visit them in Istanbul, with Ruffa’s parents Annabelle and Eddie. Those were great times. Yilmaz was such a generous and gracious host. I viewed him as gentle person lalo na kapag naglalambing kay Ruffa. I was also witness to their earliest tampuhans as a married couple, which I thought was only but natural for people in relationships.
What came next was the en grande, fairytale wedding of the young couple in Manila, which sadly I wasn’t able to attend.
When Ruffa gave birth to Lorin at Cedars Sinai (Beverly Hills), yours truly was also there to help the family welcome the new baby into this world. I saw Ruffa in so much pain that I had to take a moment to thank the Lord for not making me a full-blown woman.
And then when Ruffa was in labor with her next baby, I was again at Cedars Sinai with her publicist Jun Lalin to anticipate Venice’s arrival.
After the children’s birth, Ruffa went back to Istanbul to resume her busy life as wife to a multi-millionaire businessman and mother to Lorin and Venice. In between, she preoccupied herself with volunteering for charities and working in fashion as president of Fashion TV Turkey.
Her friends and family had high hopes for her marriage to Yilmaz but as their highly-publicized breakup would show, it’s just not meant to be.
Throughout the whole ordeal, Ruffa has tried to be strong and focused. Now that this storm in her life has passed, she now sees beautiful blue skies ahead.
Recently, she signed a contract as a “Kapamilya” under ABS-CBN and look at her—now one of the network’s hottest properties alongside Kris Aquino and Judy Ann Santos. She is now co-host of The Buzz, starring in a film fest movie and appearing on a regular soap opera and with countless product endorsements to boot.
After the turmoil, she’s received many blessings. God has answered her prayers after she returned to being Christian again.
But whatever religion you follow, I believe that it’s what’s inside your heart; your good intentions that God hears.
To Ruffa, may your star continue to shine brightly. May your caring heart continue to beat for the poor that you are helping through your charitable foundation. And may you and your family be blessed by good health and guidance from the Lord.
Happy belated birthday from your Monetskie!
