From left: Ruffa Gutierrez with “Love Thy Woman” costars Yam Concepcion and Kim Chiu

My God! I’m becoming an Annabelle!”

This was actress Ruffa Gutierrez’s realization when Inquirer Entertainment asked what she’s like as a mom to her daughters, Lorin, 17, and Venice, 15. Ruffa was referring to her mom Annabelle Rama, who is known for being too strict and overprotective of her while she was growing up.

“I fear that I’m becoming like my mom, but not as grabe. Mommy is really the queen of all queens. No one can beat her when it comes to being overprotective,” Ruffa said on Wednesday, during the farewell press conference of her drama series “Love Thy Woman” on the Kapamilya network.

“Growing up, I went through so much because of her. She used to quarrel with all of my suitors and partners. I remember telling a guy, ‘Welcome to the club! Don’t worry so much because my mom did this to everyone since I was 15.’ My mom had punished every single one of them.

Ruffa at 19 (right) with mom Annabelle Rama and dad Eddie Gutierrez

“As for me, I’m just trying to be a cool and, at the same time, a strict mom to the girls. It’s hard to do this, especially because I’m a single parent. But I think I’m OK so far,” Ruffa declared.

Ruffa broke up with Turkish businessman Yilmaz Bektas, the father of the two girls, in 2007.Only recently, Ruffa and Lorin created a buzz on social media because of an Instagram post showing the former Miss World second-runner up castigating her eldest daughter for twerking in front of the camera.

Ruffa said she didn’t know that the video had been uploaded until she got hold of her phone an hour later. “Sometimes, my daughters would borrow my phone and they would be posting something from it. Like, ‘I love my daughter’ or ‘What a beautiful daughter I have.’ They posted that TikTok video on that day,” she confessed. ‘The girls would sometimes tell me, ‘Mommy, look!’ Then, they would dance. They would often get my natural, authentic reaction.

“I was like, ‘Will you stop twerking?’ Lorin was more than happy that she got my reaction on video—I was like Annabelle Rama na Inglisera!”

Ruffa (left) with Lorin twerking on TikTok

Ruffa said it was so funny that people liked it. “They’d say, ‘Para kang mommy mo.’ I don’t want to end up like my mom! That’s not the goal,” she said, laughing.

Turning serious, Ruffa said her greatest fear as a mom was that “my daughters will end up with the wrong person, or ang mapariwara sila. That’s the fear of every mother. We all want our kids to finish their studies and grow up as God-fearing individuals. I want them to be loving and caring to their family. Just like every mom, I just want the best for my children,” she declared.

Now that taping for “Love Thy Woman” has come to an end (the series will air its finale on Sept. 18), Ruffa said she would “definitely miss the camaraderie. I went through a lot with this group, especially because ABS-CBN was shut down while we were locked-in on the set. I feel like we’ve gotten really close, that we’re already a family,” Ruffa said. “Even though taping is already finished, I know that our friendship will continue.”

For the last two weeks of “Love Thy Woman,” viewers will witness the final battle of wits and instincts of the feisty women of the Wong family—Ruffa, Kim Chiu, Yam Concepcion, Sunshine Cruz and Eula Valdes. The brawl comes to an explosive end as the culprit behind the death of patriarch Adam Wong (Christopher de Leon) is revealed.

“Love Thy Woman,” codirected by Jeffrey Jeturian, Jerry Lopez Sineneng, Andoy Ranay, and Jojo A. Saguin, is seen Mondays to Fridays at 2:30 p.m. on Kapamilya Online Live.

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