Diether Ocampo’s ex reveals her side of the story

As with showbiz hook-ups and break-ups, most of the story could be gleaned from an episode of an afternoon weekend talk show, which was what happened with Diether Ocampo and erstwhile girlfriend of two years, Rima Ostwani. A visibly affected Ostwani appeared on “The Buzz” on Aug. 8 where she shared her feelings about the break-up.

Those who knew the couple were “shocked” when on Aug. 4, Diether made these statements on “Showbiz News Ngayon” regarding his relationship with Ostwani:

“Merong mga pagkakataon na kailangan balansehen mo ‘yung mga bagay-bagay. Kailangan mo lang maging fair sa lahat ng taong naging involved sa buhay mo whether it’s personal or sa professional career. So at this point, naging ano ako eh, I have to sacrifice something, ‘di ba? Hindi ko naman sinabi na pang-matagalan eh. Gusto kong bigyan ng prioridad ‘yung mga importante at this point sa akin. Na mga gagawin ko na hakbang… na ayaw mo siyempre makasakit ng ibang tao.”

Vague as this may be, Ocampo insisted the decision to split was “mutual” and that, “Nagkaintindihan kami diyan. Wala namang bagay na hindi kami napagkasunduan.”

Speaking with Boy Abunda on “The Buzz,” Ostwani —a print ad model whose father is Sirian and mother is a Spanish-German with Filipino blood, and who grew up in Lebanon but went to high school and college here in the Philippines— shared that Ocampo first saw her at an event.

He joked that their relationship was “love at first feet,” and she related that Ocampo “was texting so he was looking down. And he told me that I passed by and so he saw my feet. That was the first thing he noticed.”

But to Abunda’s question as to whether it was also “love at first sight,” she admitted, “There’s this stigma to actors eh…” To this, Abunda asked if it had something to do with many showbiz guys being “babaero.”

“’Yun ‘yun… ‘di ba, babaero. So sabi ko, parang hindi yata ako bagay diyan. Or parang that’s not for me, ayaw ko namang ma-involve diyan or something like that. But when I met him, one of the first things he told me was that, ‘I have a foundation. I love children.’ And he gave me his business card for Kids Foundation. I was like, I felt so guilty to have judged him.”

Love for kids aside, Ostwani revealed how Ocampo won her over. “Oh my God , Tito Boy, we were seeing each other every single day. He was picking me up from work every single day, believe it or not.”

Saying they had a very good connection, Ocampo nevertheless had a warning for her about show business. “Sabi niya sa akin it’s quite demanding when it comes to time. So he told me when he has project, he will be very busy and I have to be prepared.”

Well, she might have been prepared but it turned out it was Ocampo that needed the time off. Admitting to the break-up, Ostwani had also been very forthcoming about her very private emotions. “Actually, sobrang masakit talaga ito para sa akin. Sabi niya nahihirapan daw siyang balansehen ‘yung work niya tsaka ‘yung relationship namin. Nalungkot talaga ako kasi dati naman, naba-balance naman niya eh.”

She added, “Tina-try ko talaga i-understand… ilagay ‘yung sarili ko sa sitwasyon niya, kung gano siya ka-busy. Kung gano kahirap din ang trabaho niya, kung gano kahirap din siguro balansehin lahat. Mahirap talaga kasi masakit eh… parang is that enough reason to throw away what we had?”

She said sometimes there would be fights, and at times it would be because of her “maliliit na tampo kung sobrang busy siya, or kung let’s say walang time. Siyempre hinahanap-hanap mo rin siya.”

Yet Ostwani nevertheless revealed that that they had spoken about marriage at some point.

“It wasn’t something that was in the near future when we’d speak about it, but it was always where we wanted to go,” she stated. During the interview, however, Ostwani flat out said she felt that, “Hindi talaga ako priority."

“There were a couple of very painful incidents that he put me through, which I felt were unnecessary. And that’s when I realized, ‘Wow, kung kaya niyang gawin ‘yan, talagang parang he doesn’t even give our relationship importance.’ I felt very much taken for granted,” she revealed.

However, she refuted rumors about a third party. “Wala. Hindi po totoo ‘yon. Para sa akin, mahal ko lang talaga siya and I just wanted our relationship to work, of course.”

When Abunda asked if she still loved Ocampo, Ostwani simply bowed her head in tears. He then asked if she cried about it, and, again, she held nothing off by admitting, “Sobra… sobra, sobra… I was praying for enlightenment. And He gave me signs, and those signs gave me the strength to move forward.”

For Ostwani, her strength through this ordeal had come from people whom, she said, cared about her. “You try to stay positive eh, you try to pull yourself up because you don’t wanna stay down there. I know I lost an important part of me, but I still have my life…”

But her message to Ocampo had been heartfelt. “There is nothing I wanna tell Diether except thank you. Thank you for showing me love. I didn’t know I had this much love to give. Thank you for the wonderful experiences, we had great times. He was a great inspiration. And he will always have a mark in my life.”

Source: MB