It was six years ago when University of the Philippines-Diliman alumna Jervi Li caught the attention of the public after spot-on impersonation of ABS-CBN’s award-winning broadcast journalist and her idol Karen Davila made waves on social media, which also impressed the journo herself. Since then, she’s been known as “KaladKaren Davila”.
But aside from her incredibly striking impression of Karen Davila and her discovered flair in hosting, another thing that we find impressive about her is beautiful, long-term relationship with her British fiancé Luke Wrightson. And during their appearance together in Magandang Buhay in 2022, the couple reminisced about how their love story bloomed a decade ago in Hong Kong.
According to KaladKaren, it was a case of love at first sight as sparks instantly flew between them upon their first meeting at a party. Luke recalled how he easily got attracted to her beauty and “fantastic red hair” that time, so they spent the night talking with each other over a few drinks, and agreed to go on a date at Disneyland the following day.
When asked by Momshie Regine Velasquez-Alcasid what made him fall in love with her, Luke said that he absolutely admires her work ethic and her passion for what she does – may it be at work or life in general. He further divulged that his family and relatives are actually close with her. Thus, he believes that both of them are lucky to have one another in their lives.
In the 10 years that they have been together, KaladKaren disclosed that they initially had a difficult time since they were in a long-distance relationship – she’s here in the Philippines while he goes to different parts of the world as a merchant navy. But the one thing that kept them really strong was their “communication with each other.” They made sure to update one another even about the simple things they do in their everyday lives, such as what they ate for breakfast, how was work, where they are going for the night, among others.
Furthermore, she thought that another reason behind the success of their LDR was having a solid plan or specific date on when they are going to see each other again in the flesh. While we often see them together on her Instagram posts, it was revealed that they’re still in this kind of setup since Luke works overseas. Although its challenging, but he doesn’t want her to choose between her career and being with him because he knows how much she loves and excels in what she does.
This prompted KaladKaren to impart that Luke is actually her number one fan as he never fails to support her in everything she does and even get himself involved in some of the contents that she makes despite not being a showbiz person – out of his genuine love for her.
“I think nagwo-work sa’min ang long-distance relationship because when we are not together, parang feeling ko, ‘miss na miss ko na siya, parang gusto ko na siyang makita ulit.’ Tapos ‘pag nagkita kami ulit, parang ‘ay, bago na naman.’ Parang there is a restart button. Absence makes the heart [grow] fonder,” she stated.
With regards to when the wedding bells are going to ring for them, KaladKaren revealed that they’re actually supposed to get married in United Kingdom in 2021, but that got scrapped because of the pandemic restrictions that hinder them from bringing their loved ones there to witness their union.
When asked for her message to him, she told her “Mr. Monkey”: “Thank you for accepting me, for all of who I am. We’ve been together for 10 years but still everyday that I wake up, I still choose to love you and I will choose to love you every single day of my life,” she also went on to thank him for doing the household chores and, most especially, for his unconditional love, for his unwavering support, and for simply showing up in difficult times.
Luke, on the other hand, wasn’t able to hold his emotions back when it was his turn to share his message for her because he was too shy. Thus, the momshie-hosts didn’t force him to do so and told him that it’s already obvious how much he loves her.
Go through some of KaladKaren and Luke’s sweetest and loveliest snaps together in this gallery!