After 12 years of staying away from the limelight, Cindy Kurleto is back in the Philippines for a short visit. She is the newest ambassador of Myra Ultimate, an anti-aging supplement.
Cindy Kurleto at the Myra Ultimate launch
Cindy Kurleto: A mother to two daughters
The Asian Parent was able to catch up with Cindy Kurleto at the press conference for her Myra Ultimate endorsement.
The 40-year old tells us that she is currently based in Europe with her family. She has lived in Peru before moving back to her hometown of Vienna, Austria, when her father got seriously sick. She wanted to take care of him before he passed.
“I left [the Philippines] in 2007,” she says. “I’ve started a family. I have two daughters. I enjoy family life. I enjoy being a mother.”
Cindy has two daughters—Noa, 9, and Lima, 3—with her British-Bajan husband, Daniel. She is a full-time stay-at-home mom.
“I believe it takes a lot of patience and time to be a full-time mom,” she comments. “And I love it!”
Although they are living in Austria, Cindy wants her daughters to grow-up Pinoy—just like how she was raised by her Filipino mom.
“[Growing up,] my mother and I were alone in Vienna. My dad left us when I was four. And my mom was a Filipina nurse. I always felt that I enjoyed a very Filipino upbringing with the only difference that I wasn’t in the Philippines, but in a different country.”
She adds, “Even though most of you see me as half-Filipina, I really feel talaga Pinoy in my core. And there are so many of me, of those mestizos and mestizas that feel exactly the same. And whenever they come home to Manila, they always tell me the same thing. It pulls at their heartstrings.”
Cindy is very lucky because her husband supports her in incorporating Filipino values and traditions in their home.
“My husband Daniel, he used to live here in Manila—that’s how we met. I don’t have to explain what adobo is, what kare-kare is. He asks for those foods and he doesn’t complain like other foreign husbands that it smells funny—the patis. He misses calamansi, things you cannot buy there.”
She shares that whenever her eldest, Noa, gets sick, her daughter would always ask for sinigang as a comfort food.
Although she has the “unwavering support that a Filipino mother would give her children,” Cindy tries to balance Pinoy practices and her own beliefs.
“My own mother was always tough love—and it worked for me,” she explains. “But in this day and age, I don’t believe in tough love anymore. I believe in kind words, kind encouragement. And especially since my daughters are going out as a mix person of four different races in a white first world country, I really have to always be there to support them and show them where they belong.”
Cindy also shares that she is planning to bring her whole family to the country in July, during her daughters’ school break.
“I would love for them to fall in love with this place just like I fell in love with this place when I first came here.”
She plans on bringing them to Siargao, Boracay, and Bohol for their two-month vacation.
Cindy Kurleto: Showbiz comeback?
Having been away for more than a decade, Cindy Kurleto admits that she did miss show business.
“I had a colorful career while I was here. I’d be lying if I said I don’t miss it. Of course, I miss it. I miss working together with other creative people, having people around me with similar mindset and together creating something that withstands the test of time.”
Asked if she is willing to make a showbiz comeback, Cindy says she is not closing her doors.
“If there are acting jobs out there, I’m always glad to take because once you get the acting bug, you will always have it.”
Prior to relocating to South America with her husband, Cindy had a flourishing acting and hosting career. She was part of Magandang Tanghali Bayan, Eat Bulaga, and Encantadia. She says she had fond memories of her experience in being an actress—but it was something that she didn’t tell her children.
“My daughter, Noa, she loves Disney movies and she follows actresses on Instagram. And she told me once, ‘Mommy, can we go to Disney? I want to interview that actress. I want to ask her how it feels to have her makeup done and in front of the camera, to act for TV…’
“In my head, I keep on thinking, ‘She can ask me na lang!’ But I never told her until last November. So, it’s very recent news for her.”
It wasn’t until she got the offer from Myra Ultimate last November to become an endorser that she told her daughters about her former career.
She relates, “I had to tell them because I was traveling here and I was going for three weeks. I had to tell them where their mom is going.”
When she finally told her 9-year-old daughter that she used to be an actress, her daughter was floored.
“She is so fascinated. I think she would love to be here right now and see all of you! She would love that.”
During the press conference, Cindy, 40, received a lot of compliments, praising her timeless beauty.
“I do believe that aging is something that nobody should be afraid of,” she says. “I think aging is actually normal. We should make the next generation not be afraid of aging. We should also show them that there is a way of aging gracefully.”
Image: GMA News
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