Nadine Samonte — too good for her own good

NADINE Samonte’s unpleasant experience at the star-studded GMA Gala last July 20 would not have been made public if it were not for her stylist Keith Manila who felt insulted for her.

Understandably, nothing could be more dehumanizing than being sent an invite only to find out her name was nowhere on the guest list.

I could imagine how excited Nadine was to have prettified herself a la Audrey Hepburn only to be seated at a “namecardless table” (at the far end of the venue) fit for gatecrashers.

Is it because Nadine is a lesser star? But isn’t she a homegrown GMA artist who deserves to be treated right?

I wish Nadine’s Starstruck batchmate Jennylyn Mercado made it to the event if her son Alex Jazz wasn’t down with fever that night. Had Jennylyn been around, the first ever artista search ultimate winner would sure have not allowed Nadine suffer in humiliation!

Good thing, there was Althea Ablan — who Nadine had once worked with in a GMA soap — who asked her to join her table.

Also, Jak Roberto was in sight to help the displaced actress contact their common handler. Albeit already seated, I could relate to Nadine who felt ill at ease amidst the stellar frenzy in the air.

There could be no better decision than Nadine heading toward the exit without waiting for the program to end. In fact, she should have rushed back straight to her hotel room from the registration area!

In spite of it all, Nadine managed to keep her “very Audrey” composure until she went up the room.

In her interview with Ogie Diaz uploaded July 23 on YouTube, Nadine recalled that it was when she locked herself up inside the loo where she admittedly could not hold back her emotions any longer.

Nadine crying it out must be loud enough to be heard by her husband. It was after Nadine came out of the restroom that she tearfully told him what happened down there.

Naturally enraged, the husband — who wanted to go down and confront whoever was responsible for mistreating Nadine — turned to her, “I didn’t consent to letting you go back to showbiz to be treated that way!”

In an instant, it dawned on me the kind of a person that Nadine is unbeknownst to the public: to be good is not at all good.

Depending on the circumstances, methinks that being bad — well, not all the time — isn’t exactly bad. In Nadine’s particular case, I would even have advised her to settle scores with whoever staff had messed it all up.

Talk about immortalizing film legends of yesteryears, in my cool yet intense real-life confrontation scene with the staff, I would have probably chosen to do a Cherie Gil.

After all, I am not a Sparkle star for nothing!

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LOCAL showbiz is truly welcoming of hopefuls dead-set on carving a name for themselves.

Meet Isabel Tique, the multi-slashie lead star in Neal Tan’s advocacy film “La Viuda.”

Produced by her own MBelle Film Production, La Viuda topbills Fil-Am actress Isabel as Sophia. It follows the narrative of a battered wife who champions the cause of women caught in similar situations.

Isabel Tique, lead star in Neal Tan’s advocacy film ‘La Viuda.’ CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

A beacon of hope for abused women across the country, the film endeavors to reach out via its important message.

Before taking the showbiz route, Isabel — whose depth in acting reminds us of Irma Adlawan (her looks notwithstanding) — was Oskar Peralta’s fashion muse.

From the modeling world, Isabel got her hands on doing a lot of philanthropic work, thus using it as a platform to broaden her horizon.

At the same time, Isabel channels her creative energies to major business undertakings with her American husband as corporate partner.

Make way for Isabel Tique, the next actress to watch out for!