Celebrities, friends pay tribute to Cherie Gil

Cherie Gil, a beloved friend and a show business star, passed away on Friday, August 5, at the age of 59. Friends, relatives, and celebrities went to social media to express their condolences and pay tribute to Cherie Gil.

The veteran Filipina actress is fondly remembered by many for being a genuine friend, the kindest person, and a one-of-a-kind icon in the industry. She is best known for her role as Lavinia Arguelles in the 1985 film Bituing Walang Ninging, which is famous for the line “You’re nothing but a second-rate, trying hard copycat!”

Sharon Cuneta published a lengthy statement on Instagram in which she included a photo of herself sitting by the hospital bedside of her friend Cherie as she passed away. Sharon, who had flown to New York, expressed that she was clinging to a “sliver of hope” that God would perform a miracle and enable Cherie to make a recovery from her condition. She stated that she was “eternally grateful to Him for providing [them] the brief hours [they] spent together” and for the love and words that were given in person during that time. Bituing Walang Ningning featured both Sharon and Cherie in starring roles.

Sharon shared her anguish at the realization that she would never see her buddy again, how she was still unable to come to terms with it, and how it seemed like such an unfair situation. “If you were to leave me now, I would never be the same. I told you that you had to fight, please, because you couldn’t leave me and that you were my partner, that there is no one like you… I told you that there is no one else like you…. You said yes. But God brought you home; he took away all your suffering.”

“You were and always will be one of the most loved people in my life…a most important part of both my present and my past. My heart is in pieces again, and now I don’t know how to put it back together anymore. Because among the many loved ones I have lost over the past few years, you were and always will be one of the most loved. To my very core. I adore you so very much. Since you’ve parted ways with us, it feels like the end of an era…. What am I going to do now that I don’t have you, Love?” Sharon added.

Gabby Eigenmann, an actor and Cherie’s nephew, recently shared a collection of humorous throwback images of his cherished tita online. Eigenmann stated that it was challenging for him to do so.

“It’s good to have you guys back together. I adore you with a single beat of my heart. We are grateful to the Lord for bestowing them upon us. I love you, TITA,” wrote Gabby, Cherie Gil’s son and the surviving child of her late brother, the actor Mark Gil.

On her Facebook page, actress Sunshine Cruz shared several images of herself and Cherie. During the interview for the 2016 series Dolce Amore, she referred to working with her as “an honor.”

Cherie made her comeback to the entertainment industry in the film Sugatang Puso, which garnered her the prize for Best Supporting Actress at the Metro Manila Film Festival. Prior to this, Cherie had taken an 11-year vacation from the entertainment industry in 1994 to focus on her family. She made a cameo appearance in the movie Citizen Jake in 2018, for which she was nominated for her very first Gawad Urian Award.

During the pandemic, she transformed herself into an acting coach and began teaching online workshops to aspiring as well as established actors. It was reported to the public in February 2022 that she had relocated from the Philippines to New York in order to be closer to her children.

At the time, Cherie was a patient at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where she was receiving treatment.