She was this once-super famous child star-turned-teen actress and was arguably the most beautiful Regal Baby of her generation. With looks and talent, she should have been also one of showbiz’s wealthiest denizens. But to put it in Pinoy Big Brother parlance, Snooky Serna was also showbusiness’ “ultimate pasaway.” Or maybe the Britney Spears of the Philippine entertainment industry.

She was tagged “pagong” for taking her sweet time. She made everyone, from her alalays to the industry’s big bosses, wait for her. She failed to appear or appeared super late in many of her showbiz commitments. Hence, the projects slowly dwindled. Hence, the speculation about the could have beens and the should have beens. So everything in Snooky’s world – the fame, the glitz, the glamour – gone.

But Filipinos are truly a forgiving bunch. Heck, if the head of the country could pardon her predecessor a month after getting convicted for the crime of plunder, then surely Snooky’s crimes are forgivable. Though everyone seems wary of her vow to do good this time, showbiz still thinks the Famas award-winning actress deserves her second chance.

For the nth time

“Mukha na akong pera ngayon!” Snooky quips during the presscon of the latest GMA 7 teleserye La Vendetta when asked what made her sure that she’ll behave well this time around. Well, maybe she meant it. After all, she recently made the rounds of talk shows and told everyone that she had lost all her money and that she’s now taking the public transport to get around.

Somehow, a number of hearts went out to Snooky, especially after she recently revealed that she was raped when she was 14 years old by a “co-star.” Snooky, however, refuses to elaborate on the rape issue and says that “they” have moved on.

To prove that she has now turned her back from her primadonna ways, the rainy night notwithstanding, a beautiful and radiant Snooky was among the first to arrive at the presscon of La Vendetta held at Ilustrado resto right at the heart of Intramuros, Manila.

So how does Snooky feel about being given a second chance by the Kapuso Network, the network which she had a falling out last year after she abandoned the project Captain Barbell?
“It makes me feel so good and grateful,” Snooky answers. “I’m being very honest and not showbiz with my answer. GMA 7 was the one I hurt the most because of what I did when they offered me a role in Captain Barbell. But I really feel so grateful that they gave me another chance.”

In hindsight, Snooky muses at the irony of her situation. It should have been another station—not GMA—that saved her. But still, it was GMA that picked her up and gave her a chance to redeem herself from her faux pas. It gave her another chance at the time no TV station would touch her after all her blunders.

“I want to thank GMA 7 because every time I make a comeback on the TV screen, they really give me the break,” said Snooky who was cast by GMA 7 in the series Habang Kapiling Ka with erstwhile screen partner Albert Martinez four years ago. “So in sincere gratitude and repentance, I would like to say sorry for what I’ve done.”

Cleaning up her act

 Snooky agrees she destroyed her good name and her good relationship, not only with GMA 7, but also with the other networks because of her irrational behavior and despicable work attitude. She said these happened due to the many unfortunate events she went through during those times. She, however, claims she did not do those things deliberately.

It was in February 2006 when the court annulled Snooky’s marriage with husband Ricardo Cepeda, with whom she has two daughters, Sam and Saatchi. But in April of that same year came, she hurriedly married then boyfriend Niño Mendoza, a guitarist in a rock band and a much younger man. Her second marriage was as doomed as her first. There were reports that the two constantly bickered and had financial problems. In August of this year, Snooky filed for an annulment of her marriage with Nino and was soon alone again.

From there, more reports surfaced that Snooky was so poor she could not even pay her electric bills. She later confessed that she had to ride jeepneys to get from place to place. So she was so thankful that GMA Network decided to let bygones be bygones and welcomed her anew with open arms.

She prays that the Kapuso network will allow her to redeem herself from the misdeeds of the past. Snooky also wants to redeem herself in the eyes of her children, who bore the brunt of her choices.

“My children have suffered enough. They’ve gone through difficult times in those two years. I’ve been through a lot of trials. I’ve gone through so much that I don’t believe how I was able to survive. God has really humbled me so much. He tapped me on my shoulder. He made me realized those things needed to happen to wake me up because I needed to clean up my act,” she explains.

But no matter the hardships that even her kids had to endure, it’s almost miraculous that Snooky’s daughters seemed to remain strong despite everything they had to go through.
“I don’t want to take sole credit for it because their dad is also such a strong person and is also a big influence in their lives. Thank God that my family, despite the weaknesses, had been able to instill the value of faith in God in my children,” she says.

Finding inner strength

“In my own way, despite my imperfections, I am also thankful that my faith in the Lord did not waver a bit. I know that no matter how weak I am, during the times that I stumbled, I know the Lord is there to forgive and I didn’t give up. That’s when I discovered the inner strength in me and that somehow, unconsciously, I was able to transfer to my daughters.

“I don’t want to sound like I am boasting but for the first time in my 41 years, it was only now that I realized I had an inner strength in me. I’ve always believed myself to be a weakling. I’ve always been dependent on other people. But in those two years that I went through a very difficult time, I guess it was a blessing in disguise, because the Lord showed me my inner strength,” Snooky said.

The actress said that the trials she went through was probably the Lord’s way of showing her that she’s not weak after all. “I was the one who was conditioning myself (that) I was weak, that I needed someone to lean on. With God’s help, I was able to get out of that doldrums, that stupor. Hey wake up, you’re not a child anymore,” says Snooky with a firm belief that she’s on her way to fixing her life and giving it a more definite direction, not only for herself but also for her children.

“I think I’ve made myself suffer long enough. I have no one else to blame but myself. Because of the complex situation I have within me (she says she’s suffering from systemic mood disorder), I made a lot of mistakes in my life. And I went through a lot of sacrifices that I needed not go through. But with God’s help, I was able to survive,” says Snooky.

“The Lord is really in control and He made me realize many valuable lessons in life. I don’t want to enumerate anymore the bad things but I’d rather think of the good things that made me realize that no matter the hardships, these were just instruments that God uses to make us better persons. It’s up to us to channel these challenges for our own good.”