Old habits die hard. Jake Cuenca kicked his for good
Jake Cuenca starts his day by owning it—before it owns him.
As an actor in the thick of teleserye taping, all while preparing for an upcoming one, Cuenca can easily spend hours on end, six days a week, on set. And if he doesn’t create time for himself, a sense of dread and confinement inevitably sets in.
“If all you do is work, it can make you feel trapped. I have to do something for myself first, and then devote the rest of my day to the imaginary set of circumstances in front of the cameras,” he told Lifestyle in a recent interview.
Cuenca is already up at 5 a.m., sometimes even earlier. He opens his journal and writes down his personal thoughts: dreams, manifestations, goals. Somewhere along that stream of consciousness, he slips into the psyche of Miguelito Guerrero, the corrupt politician he plays in “FPJ’s Batang Quiapo.” His director, Coco Martin, is known to work without an actual script, so Cuenca has to flesh out his character’s motivations and fill in the blanks.
After the mental exercise comes the physical. He heads straight to the gym for weight training. Earlier this day, he focused on his abs, back, biceps, and shoulders—aiming to regain some of the muscle mass he had lost while gearing up for his next project, “What Lies Beneath,” where he assumes the role of a convict.
He was 20 pounds below his usual weight—just right for the new job, but much too light for the current one. “It can be tough balancing two drastically different characters at the same time,” he pointed out.
Forms of meditation
If he still has time to spare, Cuenca goes out and pounds the pavement. He enjoys running so much that he can go at it for two hours, with his favorite audiobooks and podcasts keeping him company. There’s just something so satisfying about it, he said—like scoring “a personal victory” after every loop, after sweating out all his stresses and mental fog.
“It’s my form of meditation,” he said.
But by 10 a.m., his personal window is over. Finally, it’s showtime, and he puts on his actor hat. After 20 or more grueling sequences as a manipulative antagonist—whose schemes and ambitions he cloaks behind his now-signature creepy smile—Cuenca returns home, ready to be anything but a celebrity. “I can just be a boyfriend to my girlfriend, Chie (Filomeno), a son to my mother, or just do my responsibilities,” he said.
What does he do for fun, though? “Well, this is fun!” Cuenca said, laughing. What he does daily might sound tedious, even torturous to some, but his routine has become so ingrained in his system that he can’t imagine doing away with it. “If you enjoy what you’re doing, you wouldn’t tire of it,” he said.
If he doesn’t have a series to grind for, however, then he can do something fun-fun—riding motorcycles.
Like running, there’s something meditative about being on two wheels, he said, especially when he goes out solo. Riding down the scenic highways of Rizal or Bukidnon, alone with his own thoughts—add to that the heightening of senses from the very real risks involved—and he gets a curious mix of thrill and zen that ultimately gives way to clarity.
“After a ride, you look back on things that were troubling you and realize that maybe they weren’t as bad as I had thought. Maybe I can handle them in a different way,” said the 37-year-old star, who keeps a stable of mostly Yamaha motorcycles, including a Tracer 9 GT, an XSR 700, and a Ténéré 700.
The Tracer 9 GT is his favorite—the same one he rode in a showstopping entrance at a high-profile denim-and-underwear fashion show earlier this year. But it’s not just for photo-ops, he stressed. “It’s become a signature of sorts. But I take it out on regular days, too,” he added. “I own cars, but if I need to commute, I’d much rather ride than drive.”
Near-death experience
But more than a need for structure, the reason behind Cuenca’s highly regimented lifestyle runs deeper—it also helps him keep former bad habits at bay.
It’s no secret that he used to be a heavy smoker—two packs a day at his worst. He also drank regularly; in showbiz, with all the parties and events, it can be hard not to. He quit smoking 10 years ago, surprisingly with very little resistance. Now drinking was a different animal.
When you’ve spent your youth as the “life of the party”—and unwittingly tied your self-worth to that image—saying no becomes incredibly difficult. It would take a “near-death” experience involving a highly publicized car accident and police chase for Cuenca to swear off alcohol for good.
“That version of me died that day,” he said of the incident, which happened in 2021. “You can’t let things just stay the way they are.”
The first year was a challenge. At any given point, he felt there was still a chance he might fall back into old habits. But he soldiered on, saying no to temptation again and again until sobriety finally became a way of life. He hasn’t picked up a bottle in over four years and has no plans of ever tasting another drop.
“The new me has boundaries now—and they don’t budge,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a CEO or a network executive offering. The answer will always be no.”
Besides, there’s no bigger high than the rush of endorphins after a long run. There’s no greater thrill than zipping on his big bike. And no better party than a television set filled with people you admire, patting you on the back for a job well done.
“Staying true to my regimen makes me feel bulletproof. It allows me to live up to my full potential and push my limits,” he said. “Every time I go home from work, there’s a sense of satisfaction because I did what I do, to the best that I could.”
