Maritoni Fernadez with Gladys Reyes at the Manila Hotel Champagne Room, applies tough love on her children. (Photo by Manny Llanes)

MANILA, Philippines -- Actress Maritoni Fernandez kept daughter and Kapuso upstart Lexi Fernandez from joining showbiz for four years until the young “Nita Negrita” actress begged her mother for help.

In an interview with Bulletin Entertainment at the Manila Hotel late Saturday for its Kontrabida Moms event, Maritoni related how she schemed like her villainous roles, making sure she had set up traps to discourage 16-year-old Lexi who had wanted showbiz pass since she was 12.

“I told her I would not do that, she would have to audition. She would have to go through the ropes and do it the hard way,” Maritoni said while enjoying a mouth-watering dinner at the famed, historic hotel.

The actress, who thrived since the ’90s doing contravida roles added, “This was for ABS-CBN because she signed up with Boy (Abunda) and I made her go through auditions and I talked to Boy. I told him, ‘Don’t help her. If she wants a show, let her earn it.’ She went to every single go-see for about six months. She would go and there were 250 girls there. [I was tough] because I did not want her to be in the business! I wanted to discourage her as much as I could.” But like a bida in her own little soap, Lexi refused to back down.

“I had hoped that the hardship of lining up and not getting picked would discourage her. But the more she wasn’t making any advances, the more determined she became. It worked the opposite way,” said Maritoni who will never be caught guilty of being a stage mom.

Things only turned around in favor of Lexi when she pleaded for Maritoni to do her a very small favor.

“She cried when she was picked. She told me ‘Mom, they [ABS-CBN] want me but they don’t know who I am. All I need is just for you to say na anak ko yan. I don’t need you to tell them to hire me. Just for them to know [that I’m you’re daughter.’ And she said this because there is the confidence right away na anak ng artista yan, marunong umarte because she grew up in the business.

“I’ve been pretty much a GMA artist since TV industry became the main life force of local showbiz. Once or twice I would move to ABS on a per project basis but I was mostly with GMA, which is why Lexi has always been exposed in GMA because she would always go with me during tapings,” she recalled.

Maritoni, who as been in showbiz for 21 years now, continued: “Lexi got a text that she was picked for an ABS show because she was part of a chosen group of people guaranteed a show without knowing she is my daughter. She showed me the text and then started to cry. So I asked, why are you crying? And she said, ‘Mommy I’m so tired na. Baka they’ll call me back there and then they will tell me that I won’t have a show pa rin,’ although I know na meron ng show waiting for her because someone from ABS called me already. I asked, ‘So what do you want me to do?’ She said, ‘Please just make a call. It’s just a call.’

“So I called Tita Lilybeth (Rasonable) and told her hindi ko na mapigilan si Lexi kinukuha na siya sa kabila and I didn’t want her [to go there]. No offense, but I wanted her where I was also working. When Lexi told me that I felt sorry for her and since it looks like I cannot stop her anymore, I just had to lay down the ground rules first [before I finally let her join showbiz]. So, I made her take a taxi to GMA for her meeting with Tita Lilybeth.”

Maritoni ended up supporting Lexi and becoming her number one fan.

“She turned out to be really good and very effective as a kontrabida because I know how mabait Lexi is and she’s the exact opposite of the character she plays in Nita. I was the most proud when people her age would scream when they see her. I was so proud when people wanted to have their photos taken with her.”

And whenever Lexi is asked where she draws inspiration for her character, she would always say she learned it from the best, her mom.

Maritoni joined another screen villainess Gladys Reyes in a post-Mother’s Day event at the Manila Hotel during this interview at the hotel’s Champagne Room which Maritoni likened to a setting for a period movie. “[The Champagne Room is] something similar to ‘Age of Innocence’ where ladies wear billowing, elaborate clothes and tight corsets. It’s a beauty. From the vaulted ceilings to the marble floor… just amazing. It reminds me that life should be spent in the best possible way, with people you love in beautiful place like this.”