Beating the odds and staying together

#PhilippineBasketball star Jimmy Alapag and his wife, TV/host and actress Lj Moreno share their love story in this interview done on their 9th year wedding anniversary in Southern California.

They go through their 4 year history and remember that they were actually broken up before getting back together again. They said they each knew that when they broke up they were not yet ready for a serious relationship to begin with. Jimmy says that he still had the urge to hang out with his friends while LJ wanted to travel around the world. Neither of them ever thought they would get back together again.

But as fate would have it, they would randomly see each other in certain spots in Manila while they were out with friends. And a chance meeting at a common friend’s wedding made them realize that they still had feelings for each other.

Fast forward to today, they have now been together for 9 years with 3 wonderful children. And they share some relationship and marriage tips with our viewers.

Jimmy’s advice is: “If things are going to work it is important to have balance in your life.”

The couple would try to always make sure that they balance their lives between work and family while keeping open channels of communication. To them, it is very important to talk about everything in a calm manner rather than raising their voices at each other.

“Especially around the kids, we don’t want them to hear that,” says LJ about arguing.

According to the couple, an open communication line is key – rather than making assumptions LJ would now tell Jimmy directly if she has any issues and vice versa. She’d rather communicate everything than let it build into a massive argument.

LJ tells us how she managed her life while making sacrifices and she further explains that there are certain projects she’s unable to accept, as she makes her family – husband and children – her priority. She further explains that her priority is to be a mother so she could only do projects which would allow her to bring her children on set.

She also currently has a side baking business. The #alapagfamily also Vlogs about their family life on their own YouTube channel – @Alapag Family Fun

Both Jimmy and LJ are famous in the Philippines so we also asked them about dealing with jealousy, security an Deven privacy.

LJ says it’s her relationship with God that made her more secure of herself and although she was slightly jealous of girls giving Jimmy attention in the past, she got over that eventually. Jimmy also explains that they were younger at that time and being married now for almost 10 years have completely changed their relationship.

Their final advice to couples is to always keep God in the centre of the relationship, keep lines of communication open and remember that – “A break up is not a solution. It should never be a solution because you need to work it (things) out together”.