MANILA, Philippines – Sunshine Cruz recently celebrated her newfound freedom after her annulment with Cesar Montano was granted in September 2018, and now the actress has spoken about their long and often turbulent marriage in a tell-all interview with Pep.
Sunshine and Cesar were married in September 2000, and separated in 2013 when Sunshine petitioned for annulment.
According to Sunshine, the final blow to their marriage was when her children alerted her of photos of Cesar with another woman.
"Ano talaga – nung anak ko na. Anak ko na yung nagsabi sa akin na kausapin mo si Dad, kasi meron kaming nakita na picture niya with a girl,“ she told Pep.
(It was when my child got involved. It was my daughter who told me to talk to her dad because we saw a picture of him with a girl.)
The woman, starlet Krista Miller, had reportedly received gifts from Cesar, and sent him suggestive selfies and texts.
Sunshine then confronted Krista via Instagram, and filed for an annulment soon after.
Aside from the infidelity, Sunshine detailed a long history of emotional abuse throughout their marriage, and even before their wedding.
In the Pep interview, Sunshine said that there were warning signs of trouble even before they got married. Cesar supposedly said something horrible to her over the phone – words she refused to repeat even now.
"Kasi meron siyang nasabi sa akin--hindi maganda…Basta ang baboy, ang baboy. Hindi maganda, hindi talaga kaaya-aya (He told me something ugly…it was just really disgusting, it wasn’t nice, it was really horrible),” she told Pep.
She also said that Cesar threw their weddings rings away on their honeymoon, and kept pushing her to admit that the intimate scenes she had filmed before as an actress were real.
Sunshine said stayed in the marriage out of love – despite repeated suspected infidelity on her husband’s part, a legal battle with Cesar’s sister, continued emotional abuse and incidents of physical abuse – though she couldn’t go into details due to a gag order from the court.
Even after they separated, Sunshine was allegedly physically attacked and raped by Cesar on Mother’s Day 2013 – a claim he denies.
Later, in 2015, Sunshine also filed child abuse charges against Cesar, accusing him of performing lewd acts in front of their 3 daughters.
When their annulment was granted in September 18, Sunshine shared that she was overwhelemed with emotion.
"Kape pa lang iniinom ko, talagang nanginginig ako, tapos thank you ako nang thank you sa lawyer ko. (I was just drinking coffee but I was shaking. I kept thanking my lawyer),” she said in the interview.
She also said that her daughters congratulated her when they learned the news.
"Alam nila yung hirap (they know how hard it was),” Sunshine said.
She said that if she were to thank her husband for anything, it’s that she became tougher throughout the ordeal.
“Lumakas ako, naging matapang, natuto akong lumaban, hindi ko nagagawa yun noon! At, siyempre, binigyan niya ako ng tatlong mga anak (I became stronger, braver, I learned to fight. I couldn’t do that before! And of course, he gave me 3 children),“ she said.
Sunshine has been in a relationship with businessman Macky Mathay for two years. – Rappler.com
