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Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Who’s afraid of Annabelle Rama?
By Orleigh C.
Supahnova
If you think Annabelle Rama is no more than a stage mother (and wife) making sure her children (from Ruffa Gutierrez down to the twins Richard and Raymond) get the juiciest parts on television and the movies, think again. The feisty, controversial wife of ex-matinee idol Eddie Gutierrez is now a full-fledged talent manager. But that’s getting ahead of things.
What the public fails to appreciate is her role as a hardworking mom. All the time Ruffa and Eddie were making a lot of money in showbiz, Annabelle was making a name for herself as a jeweler. Selling goods is really nothing new to her. She and Eddie sold top-of-the-line dinnerware and cooking utensils for the 10 years the whole family lived in the US where the kids grew up (Ruffa is followed by Elvis and Rock, and the twins).
Despite their good fortune there, the family decided to come home after about a decade so Eddie could resume his protracted showbiz career and, deliberately or unwittingly, open the doors of showbiz to their kids.
The jewelry Annabelle sells is not cheap. Only the rich can afford them—or those who pretend to be so. They are paid by installment, with hefty interests and profits computed into the selling price, of course, and with post-dated checks issued to cover the price for a pre-agreed number of months. But some women who love jewelry, as well as men who love to maintain their charm on women by gifting them with diamonds, fail to make good on their checks. And that’s how Annabelle lands in the news pages not just of the tabloids but even of the broadsheets: when she sues her clients or when she complains that so and so has not paid her or has issued her several checks that kept bouncing.
Looking very regal in person, I bumped into her last month in Manila, introduced myself in Cebuano, and we became instant supahfriends. She told me she just launched to members of the press the roster of talents under the stewardship of Royal Era, the company she put up when Ruffa was still very active in the scene.
Of course, Royal Era’s prized talents are Annabelle’s brood, which includes her husband, Eddie Gutierrez, Ruffa, Richard, Raymond, and now Richie Paul.
Annabelle enthuses, “I am no longer managing bold stars. Sakit sa ulo ra man na sila (They give me headaches) So, ngari na lang kos mga mga bagets (I’m handling young talents instead).”
But she warns: “What I always tell them is to prioritize their work. I don’t want them late for their appointments or shootings. I don’t want them to become a problem to their shows or directors and I always tell them to work hard!”
Annabelle Rama Gutierrez has been through many battles in showbiz. And mostly it was for her family and talents, more than herself. Hell hath no fury like Annabelle, indeed. The outcome, though, has always been favorable to her and her talents, as her skills launched stars in the local, and even international, entertainment scene. Now that’s what I call supah.
(July 27, 2005 issue)
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