Jennylyn Mercado Knows Which Battles Are Worth Fighting

Before acting was in the picture, Jennylyn’s inclination to performance leaned towards music, having been surrounded by it, courtesy of her musically inclined family. The young girl made her rounds as a singer and her voice found its audience in many settings, including small bars and hotel lobbies.

Often alongside her was her adoptive mother, Lydia Mercado, whose role in her life had begun years earlier, under rather difficult circumstances. In 1991, a three-year-old Jennylyn had been the subject of news reports documenting the physical abuse she faced from her stepfather. In a 2014 interview, Jennylyn recalled the extent of the abuse, describing how severe the beatings became that she could no longer get out of bed. She remembered being left black and blue, with her face so swollen that her appearance had visibly changed. Eventually, her aunt Lydia took her away and raised her as her own.

Their story would later find its way to television in a 2004 episode of Magpakailanman, where Jennylyn portrayed her older self and Kristel Fulgar played her as a child. The dramatization also gave viewers a glimpse of their relationship and Lydia’s place in Jennylyn’s life.

In a fictitious teleserye version, this might have been where the story wrapped up, with the protagonist finally getting her happy ending. The years that followed, however, would tell a rather different story. Jennylyn’s early experiences in showbiz, for one, proved to be a far cry from what she had first expected.

“’Yung una, ayaw ko. Ayaw ko na siyang gawin kasi ang daming mga issues,” she confesses.

“Ako ’yung tao na ipapakita ko sa’yo kung ano ako. Hindi kita paplastikan. Ganun ako katotoo. Pero sa showbiz, parang ang daming tsismis, ang daming backstabbing, ang daming experience na hindi magaganda,” she continues. “Hindi pala madali. It’s a rough world.”

The years that followed would bring a different kind of public attention. At 21, Jennylyn became pregnant with her son, Jazz, and found herself under a fresh wave of public scrutiny. She was a young single mother and her family's breadwinner, with much of what she was going through under the watchful eyes of an audience.

“I feel like ’yun ’yung hardest part of my life,” she recalls.

The memories from that period are particularly difficult to imagine in succession. Jennylyn had once recalled driving herself to the hospital while in labor. After giving birth, she was left with just P2,000 in her bank account after someone who worked for her stole her savings. Around the same time, her father passed away.

A month after, she had to leave Jazz behind and fly to the United States for work. The gigs had her circling back to familiar ground, singing and performing in small bars, much like she had done as a teenager. “Nag-ipon ako doon for one month, tapos bumalik ako ng Philippines,” she says. “After two months, bumalik ako sa work. Kinuha na nila ako ulit.”

There was also the matter of learning to raise a child without much of a support system. Her mother, already older, could only spend limited time with them. For Jennylyn, adjusting to motherhood came with the added difficulty of figuring out so much on her own. “Parang napilitan akong maging mature. And kailangan kong tumayo sa sarili kong mga paa,” she says. “Ang hirap nang wala kang kahit sino. Pero surprisingly, kaya.”

When she talks about how those years changed her, Jennylyn looks back on the way she understood the world when she was younger, and how little she could have known about what lay ahead. “Ang sarap ng feeling ma-in love, pero dapat alam mo kung ano ’yung mga limitations.” 

In hindsight, this experience shapes how she talks about being on her own now. She’s quick to extend that thought beyond herself, too.

“Okay lang mag-isa,” she declares. “Kaya ng mga babae mag-isa. Kaya nating lagpasan lahat ng challenges na darating sa buhay.”

Jennylyn’s own childhood has inevitably informed the way she raises her children, though motherhood has brought experiences she could never have anticipated. When Jazz was one year and three months old, he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

She had begun to notice that he was developing differently from her nieces and nephews, many of whom she had watched grow up from birth. Her mother initially attributed the differences to the usual variations in how boys develop. Jennylyn, however, trusted a maternal instinct that nagged at her and eventually brought her son to a developmental doctor, who confirmed her suspicions.

She says she accepted the diagnosis almost immediately. “Tanggap ko agad, eh. Walang denial. Hindi ko siya binalewala.”

Today, one of the things she wishes more people understood about autism is how it can affect communication. Jazz is non-speaking, something that has informed her own experience of raising him. “Ang hirap na hindi niya nasasabi lahat ng mga gusto niya. [Kailangan ng] mas mahabang patience, understanding,” she says. It’s also why she hopes to see greater awareness of autism spectrum disorder, particularly among people who may have little experience with it.

When Jennylyn talks about her son, though, the conversation often returns to what he has brought into her life. “Si Jazz, binigay siya sa’kin for a reason. And naniniwala ako na ’yung mga anak natin, sila ’yung pumipili sa mga parents nila.”

“Isa ’yun sa mga pinakamagandang experience sa buhay ko. Ang dami ko talagang natutunan, especially ’nung nalaman ko na may [autism] si Jazz. Isa ’yun sa mga nag-push sa’kin para talagang lumaban sa buhay.” She stops for a moment, then apologizes for tearing up. “Very, very emotional at sensitive ako pagdating kay Jazz talaga.”

These days, Jazz has siblings to grow up with, too. Jennylyn’s marriage to actor Dennis Trillo brought him a kuya in Calix, Dennis’ son, and later a younger sister in Dylan, the daughter they had together. 

A family with children from different relationships naturally comes with its own set of arrangements, but much of it comes down to communication. At home, Jennylyn tends to be the stricter one, while Dennis is more inclined to play. However, they’re both deliberate about making sure the children feel equally loved. “Gusto namin na maramdaman nila ’yung pagmamahal namin na pantay-pantay.”

For Jennylyn, that extends to Calix, too. “Kahit hindi ako ’yung biological mom ni Calix, I treat him as my own. Nandito kami para kausapin kung ano man ’yung mga problema and challenges na dumating sa kanila.”

This matters so much to her for a reason. Jennylyn’s own past, along with the experiences she had accumulated in showbiz, left a lasting impression on the kind of parent she wants to be. “Ang dami kong natutunan sa showbiz. Sa pagpapalaki sa’kin ng magulang ko. And lahat ’nung mga bad experiences na ’yun, hindi ko makakalimutan dahil ang dami kong natutunan.”

“Sinumpa ko sa sarili ko na no harm would come to them,” she says. “Na magkakaroon sila ng happy childhood na ma-feel nila na they are truly loved.”

It wasn’t too long ago when Jennylyn had little choice but to take everything on herself. Raising Jazz, providing for her family, and finding her footing in an industry she had first struggled in had all called for a kind of self-reliance born out of necessity. “Wala naman akong ibang maaasahan kundi ’yung sarili ko lang. And wala namang ibang tutulong sa’kin kundi sarili ko lang,” she says. “I needed to be strong not only for myself but for my family. Wala akong choice kung ’di lumaban.”

Her circumstances have since changed. With Dennis, she now has someone to share the responsibilities of raising a family. The independence she had to cultivate on her own remains, but she has also learned that she can lean on someone without losing that part of herself.

“You can be strong, even if may mga kasama ka na,” she reflects. “May kasama na ako sa buhay. Pero hindi ibig sabihin ’nun hindi na ’ko pwedeng maging strong. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness.”

Away from the set, Jennylyn spends most of her days with her family. She and Dennis have picked up sports, taking turns at tennis and pickleball. With the children, they might eat out, catch a movie, or simply spend time together. “Basta most of the time, ’pag wala kaming work, family time talaga,” she says. 

Meanwhile, her latest project brings her back to her first love. After wrapping up her previous series, she turned her attention to music, releasing her album Jen Deluxe. She’s currently promoting the album while also producing Amir, their entry to this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival. 

It has been over two decades since StarStruck crowned Jennylyn its Ultimate Female Survivor. The label has followed her well beyond the show, taking on a meaning that reaches into her personal story, though she has never quite warmed to it. “I don’t feel like I deserve it kasi mas marami pang mas mahirap ’yung pinagdadaanan kaysa sa akin,” she reveals. “I’ve always felt na hindi ako iba sa ibang tao. Lahat tayo may kanya-kanyang level ng pagka-survivor.”

It’s an interesting way of looking at a life that has given her plenty of reasons to claim the distinction. She is, however, more certain of the things she has come to stand for. “Habang tumatanda ako, mas lumalakas ’yung loob ko. Mas marami akong natututunan na ipaglalaban ko ’yung mga taong mahal ko, at alam ko na ang pinaglalaban ko ay tama.”

“There are things na you cannot control,” she adds, reflecting on her history, “pero you can control how to handle it.”

When she thinks about the life ahead, Jennylyn finds herself imagining what she might have told the person she used to be. There would be a family she would come to know, and a kind of happiness she could not yet have pictured.

“As a wife and a mother, you will be enjoying life more. You will be surrounded by people that love you the most,” she tells her past self. “And finally, you would feel that you would have a family that would make you feel that you alone are enough.”

She may be reluctant to call herself a survivor, but she has never been short of reasons to fight. The rest, she says, you just have to live through.