Where Do You Think You're Going?

Kathryn Bernardo has spent more than half her life in show business. She has grown to be one of our generation’s biggest stars, but as she embraces changes in her career, will she continue to reign?

- Kathryn Bernardo

Kathryn. The name begins with a short puff of air and evolves into a gentle opening of the mouth. Before it permits the mouth to let out a grin, it requires a fricative— the tongue swiftly touches the upper two front teeth, expelling a rush of air that both interrupts and merges two syllables.

Once the mouth utters those two syllables, only one face emerges, along with a miscellany of scenes and images produced in the last 15 years of being in show business. She is Kathryn Bernardo.

There’s grandness attached to her name. But in person, Kathryn’s presence evokes nostalgia more than something marvelous.

In a literal sense, this shoot is a reunion. BJ Pascual has shot Kathryn in the past. Stylist Mav Bernardo, on the other hand, is Kathrynn’s kin. “They’re cousins,” I told the Scout team when I booked Mav for this shoot. They thought I was joking. Kathryn, however, corrects me. She’s actually Mav’s aunt. Their minimal age gap, though, makes it more apt to call them cousins.

For those who are meeting Kathryn for the first time, it still feels a lot like a reunion with a childhood friend we haven’t seen in a long time. And why not? Kathryn has been a constant figure in showbiz since the early 2000s.

“Hindi mo ako makikita sa movie,” Kathryn recalls her first experience on set. “Lumakad lang ako doon kasi sinama lang ako ng sister ko. May wedding scene tapos dumaan ako.” The movie in question is Chito S. Roño’s Dekada ’70. As much as she was barely seen in the movie, Kathryn was also clueless about what was happening on the set.