I wonder if actress Sharon Cuneta's being overweight isn't actually psychological.

Years ago, director Lino Brocka's method of teaching emotional truth was something that he picked up during the filming of my screenplay Mga Hugis Ng Pag-asa, set in a drug rehab center in Cavite. There, in not so many words, inmates were "broken down" first before they were assisted to "build themselves up"all over again. This is a particularly violent exercise, sometimes necessary to use on rehab patients but devastating on an artist, who naturally has a unique ego, especially if he/she consciously resists it.

Before the production began on the movie they were doing together, Lino told Sharon that she had to work extra hard because she did not have the face of a star, and that only the likes of Hilda Koronel had such a face. This may have been a crushing blow to Sharon, who was young and particularly vulnerable at the time. The blow may have been so crushing that they never did another movie together.

My reading is that Sharon subconsciously challenged herself to show Lino that she could eventually be like Hilda. Alas, the psyche is a trickster at times. Hilda was then battling with obesity, and, in wanting to be like Hilda, Sharon may have unconsciously patterned herself after Hilda beginning with her body size.

I hope that realizing this will free Sharon from her burden.