MANILA — Former equestrian champion and actress Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski said a knee injury at 19 prompted her to give acting a chance, setting her on a showbiz career she had never planned despite receiving movie offers as a teenager.
In the podcast of broadcast journalist Migs Bustos, Cojuangco-Jaworski recalled that she suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
She was only 17 when she did a commercial and started receiving offers to do movies.
"Talagang accident siya. I was walking around Ateneo on crutches for a year. I had three surgeries bago na-repair but I did this Swatch commercial at 17. And then I was getting movie offers na parang for me, 'no.' I never even considered it kasi parang I'm an athlete, I'm a student. There's no time. Parang 'oh that's cool but no it's not in my radar,'" she said.
YouTube/Migs Bustos and Lucca Creatives
Cojuangco-Jaworski said the injury prompted her to accept a film project. But because preproduction took so long, she had already recovered and resumed training for the 1994 Asian Games by the time filming on her first movie began.
"I was 100% confident that there was a solution to my problem, to my injury, but it's taking so long. And parang I was, my whole life I train every day. Hindi naman whole life pero may awareness ka na. So sige, let's do this movie thing. I got into it with that attitude of 100%. Kaya lang by the time na mag-umpisa na kami mag-shoot ng first movie ko, I was already training for '94 Asian Games. Gumaling na ako sa tagal nang pagplano," she recalled.
Cojuangco-Jaworski said she still wonders about her doctor's decision not to fully repair her partially torn ACL because she was not a professional athlete at the time.
"I was 19 years old literally arguing with a very grown up man saying, 'Just because I'm not a professional athlete, it doesn't mean I don't need my knee with full function, because I'm 19 and I have dreams,'" she said.
She said she underwent physical therapy almost every day while recovering and, because she is allergic to painkillers, refused to accept pain management as a long-term solution.
Apart from training for the Asian Games, Cojuangco-Jaworski was also doing her thesis while shooting her first film "Forever" with Aga Muhlach.
"By the time I started shooting 'Forever,' which was my first movie, I was already data gathering for my thesis. ...I was fourth year college, start kami pagdilim, matatapos kami madaling araw. Uuwi lang ako para tanggalin lang 'yung make-up ko then I'll train na. I train in the mornings. After that diretso ako sa school," she recalled.
Cojuangco-Jaworski recalled catching up on sleep during car rides to Batangas for training as she juggled her athletic career, college studies and film work.
Looking back, she said she was able to manage the demanding schedule because of the support she received from the people around her.