We love to surround ourselves with a lot of people but the reality is, not all of them make a positive impact on our lives. There are the occasional Debbie Downers and Negative Nancys who find their ways to drain us of our own hope and outlook in life. Magandang Buhay hosts Jolina Magdangal, Karla Estrada and Melai Cantiveros had a chat with Ion Perez who opened up about his childhood and shared how he was able to deal with toxic people and stay happy in the face of adversities.
Ion has certainly come a long way from his humble beginnings to now being one of the country’s hottest new faces on TV. One would think that with his good looks, Ion had always been looked up to and swooned over by girls, but that was not always the case. When he was a child, he was bullied by his peers for his physical appearance, a memory that Ion did not take lightly. As a child, he liked to go around the barangays under the scorching heat of the sun and head to the sabungan. He looked back on that day when he was in first year high school and heard two girls say that he was ugly and stinky.
Ion was distraught after hearing this but later on decided not to let this get to him and promised himself, “Isang araw ‘pag nakita nila ako, hindi na nila ako pagsasabihan na pangit at mabaho.” He started to focus on improving himself and went to the gym. A few years later, the two girls saw the handsome and hunky Ion playing basketball. Embarrassed, the girls left the place after finding out that he was the same guy they called ugly before.
However, the negativity never seemed to stop, and Ion would constantly hear people, particularly his relatives, say that he was just another pretty face with no aspirations in life and who never took his studies seriously. After hearing this, Ion decided to just ignore them and move forward with his life. He felt that he didn’t have to explain to everyone that even if he didn’t help his mother financially, he was there physically to help her sell kakanin.
He was also harshly criticized by the father of his ex-girlfriend, who thought that he wasn’t good enough for his daughter. Unfortunately, the relationship didn’t last, because he didn’t approve of him. “Tambay lang daw ako. Talagang ‘yun ‘yung lagi nilang sinasabi sa akin na wala akong mararating sa buhay,” he said. This experience only made him stronger and pushed him to try to make it big. The It’s Showtime’s Kuya Escort has also reached out to his relatives and even said he was sorry for not being able to do much back then. He even thanked his detractors, and stated that if it weren’t for what they did, he wouldn’t have been inspired to change and do something good for himself.
Psychologist Doctor Ali Gui lauded Ion for the way he handled his relatives who used to discourage him, because it didn’t hinder him from fulfilling his dreams but this instead motivated him. “He chose to do the
right thing,” Ali stressed.