
For the first time in her limited reality series Heart World, Heart Evangelista broke her silence about her husband, Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero's health scare that made headlines last April.
The Global Icon revealed that the senator had a health emergency last March 28 of this year, which led her to fly back home from Bangkok, Thailand. The Kapuso star postponed her work engagements to attend to her husband.
"Galing akong Hong Kong no'n, kaka-land ko lang ng Thailand. Before I took off sa Hong Kong, I received a text message he might go to the hospital because, prior to that, kinukwento na n'ya sa 'kin na masakit 'yung ulo n'ya, nahihilo s'ya," Heart recalled.
At that time, Sen. Chiz Escudero was scheduled to go firing with his doctor friend in Sorsogon. Unfortunately, they canceled their plans because the former had a hypertensive episode wherein his blood pressure went 220 over 120.
Heart Evangelista recounted, "I kind of saw it coming. First, wala s'yang tulog lagi, so he wasn't able to sleep. I felt like he's not being careful with his health. I saw that. But really more, three days nga na... may sinasabi na s'ya sa 'kin na nahihilo s'ya. And the last time I spoke to him, the night before I left Hong Kong, nakita ko 'yung mata n'ya parang may something, tapos parang sabi ko, 'ano nangyari sa mata mo?' Tapos sabi n'ya nilagyan lang daw ng moisturizer.
"May weird feeling na ko no'n and, the next day, when I spoke to him, video call kasi mahilig nga ako mag-video call, nakita ko sa mukha n'ya na iba na 'yung itsura n'ya, parang may something wrong and then do'n ako nagalit sa kanya. Sabi ko, 'You know you're taking it too lightly, ano ba?"
Chiz Escudero was brought to a hospital in Sorsogon where he was given primary care. Since he had to undergo MRI and CT scans, he was airlifted from Sorsogon to Manila where he was admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital.
The moment Heart landed in Manila from Bangkok, she went straight to the hospital to check on her husband.
Heart shared, "Nightmare s'ya kasi he's somebody that would be the last person you think that would be there, that cannot do anything. He was asleep, he was unconscious, and he was in the ICU, he was in another unit that is also like in ICU.
"And talagang bantay-sarado sa kanya lahat ng tao. Even if I wanted to check his phone, anong nangyari, I just have to be there beside him and, from that time, halos 'di na ako nakatulog.
"'Di na ako naligo ng apat na araw, 'di ako natulog. Talagang konting tunog lang ng heart rate n'ya, nakatingin talaga ako. Binabantayan ko talaga 'yung heart rate n'ya."
Rumors about Chiz's condition circulated online, but the Kapuso star ignored them to focus on her husband.
She said, "The reason why I don't want it to come out is because he was okay naman. I needed to protect him because I needed him to be okay because this is not the way to go down.
"This is not the way he's going down and I will not have it that other people will celebrate that.
"So no'ng lumabas s'ya, 'di dahil ayoko ng chismis or what. For him, I understand because he wants to be strong for everyone. But for me, aside from him wanting to be strong at that time, he wasn't and I had to fight for him."
The unfortunate incident was a wake-up call for both Heart and Chiz, who was diagnosed with hypertension two years ago.
Since then, the politician made sure to prioritize his health by taking his maintenance medications, refraining from smoking and drinking alcohol, eating healthy, and maintaining an active lifestyle.
For her part, Heart realized that family comes first, and she and Chiz can brave anything if they stick together.
Check out Heart Evangelista and Chiz Escudero's sweetest photos in this gallery: