Heart Evangelista, actress, TV personality and veteran of both of the two pillars of Philippine media networks, has not quite been active in entertainment over the past few years. It hardly means she is out of the spotlight all that time. On the other side of the Pacific, “Bling Empire” premiered on Netflix this past January, a reality show described as the real-life “Crazy Rich Asians” featuring affluent East Asians and East Asian-Americans living in Los Angeles. And when Heart was seen shopping with a cast member in Beverly Hills recently, she became a hot topic fueling speculation that she could be joining “Bling Empire” on its green-lit season 2.
GMA News tells us that Heart Evangelista caused a stir this past weekend when she joined Singaporean real estate developer and investor Kane Lim on a shopping trip around Beverly Hills, California. While walking down the mall-lined streets Heart was greeted and got requested for selfies by Filipinos in the crowd left and right, a phenomenon that caused Lim to describe her as “the most famous person in the Philippines.” The excursion was later covered by WarnerMedia-owned online tabloid TMZ, which also caught the question on many a passerby’s minds.
The thing is: Kane is also a main cast for “Bling Empire.” While the streaming reality series is working on its follow-up season, its growing fan base have been making guesses as to which wealthy Asian or Asian-American will be featured there next. Enter Evangelista, seasoned actress with TV presenting experience and currently married to Chiz Escudero who is currently Governor of Sorsogon. She has been in the US since August for several business commitments including art collaboration with rocker-artist Brandon Boyd of rock band Incubus, Heart being a visual creator herself. “Bling Empire” viewers who saw her shopping with the rich young developer-investor from Singapore asked if Heart was joining for season 2. Her reply: “Well whatever it is, it’s for the Filipinos so…”
Such vagueness perhaps should be expected. Even if the production for the Netflix series did approach her, Heart Evangelista recently went active again as a Kapuso talent when GMA7 began promoting an upcoming primetime drama, “I Left My Heart in Sorsogon.” Heart is the female lead there, costarring with Richard Yap and Paolo Contis, and the network started photography for it this past July, in Evangelista’s current province no less. Then again, “Bling Empire” is a limited series format, so maybe the Pinay celebrity could be squeezed into an episode feature. We just never know.
Image courtesy of ABS-CBN News
Morgan Magazine 