No wonder tongues have been wagging over Dr Hayden Kho and Dr Vicki Belo, who have been dubbed the Filipino version of Hollywood power couple Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore.
Hunky Hayden is fast becoming one of the hottest male stars in the Philippines, ever since he appeared on the wildly popular reality TV singing competition Celebrity Duets.
But with his new-found celebrity status came increasing media interest over his love life.
Hayden has been dating Dr Belo, the Philippines' top plastic surgeon to the stars, for almost three years.
He is a cosmetic surgeon and associate physician handling one of the branches of the Belo Medical Group empire, of which DrBelo is the medical director.
Their relationship, with the 24-year age difference, has caused a lot of talk, with some going so far as to label him a gold-digger.
But he counters by claiming he has rejected expensive gifts from Dr Belo, the priciest one being a BMW X5 car.
Hayden - whose father is Chinese and mother Spanish-Filipino - has a guest starring role in the second season of the local English-language comedy series The Yang Sisters, which premieres over Channel 5 in May, and was in town for four days recently to shoot the episode.
He was surprisingly open about the relationship during our interview at the Villa Raintree Spa at Labrador Park.
But he bristled when asked how it felt to have a girlfriend who earned so much more than him.
The 1.88m-tall former model told The New Paper: 'One thing I hate most about people is they tend to measure everything and try to explain love in numbers - whether it's in terms of age, the amount you have in the bank, or how many millimetres your cheeks have receded.
'I feel that love is love is love. There is no definition, and we shouldn't try to encompass love in words.'
Hayden admitted that Dr Belo has become one of his mother's best friends, and he is 'close' to Dr Belo's ex-husband, businessman Atom Henares.
But he declined to comment when asked whether he got along with her son and daughter, who are around his age.
He said: 'The good part (about going public about the relationship) is that other women of her age realise that love can still be found at that age.
'The bad part is the culture in the Philippines - they just can't believe a 27-year-old can fall in love with a 51-year-old.
'Anyway, when you're in love, it's just the two of you - no one else is included in the relationship.
'As long as you make each other happy and support each other, as long as you know you're not doing anything wrong... then everything is okay.'
Over time, the lovebirds have learnt to cope with gossip by not going out in public together back home or talking about the relationship to the Filipino media.
Hayden first met his 'idol' Dr Belo at their alma mater, the University of Santo Tomas, where both were judging a pageant.
What began as a mentor-apprentice relationship when he was doing his internship at a different hospital soon blossomed into something more, but Hayden clarified they started dating 'way before' he joined Belo Medical Group.
Don't his colleagues gossip about him?
He insisted: 'No, I do my work well and they have nothing to complain about. And I make the boss happy. If the boss is happy, everyone is happy! So they're very supportive of me.'
15-year gap: Hollywood actors Demi Moore, 45, and Ashton Kutcher, 30, were also the subject of close media scrutiny when they got married in 2005.
OLD SOUL
Though it is the first time Hayden has been in a relationship with such a big age difference, he shrugs it off by proclaiming that he's always been 'an old soul'.
He said that in high school, his friends were the 'batch mates' of his elder brother and were five years older than him.
And in medical school, the then-24-year-old was hanging around with those in their 40s and 50s.
Indeed, he claims he feels older than Dr Belo, who is 'young at heart'.
He gushed: 'She's very fragile. She's the type that makes a man want to take care of her - that made me fall for her.
'She's so pretty and lovely. The way she moves is like a child, but it's very sexy.
'She's very trusting, good-hearted, loving, appreciative and supportive, and she knows how to make a man feel like a hero.'
Incidentally, it was Dr Belo who 'talent-spotted' him and pushed him into showbiz last August.
GMA-7, the biggest TV network in the Philippines, had invited him to participate in Celebrity Duets, the Filipino edition of the international franchise where professional singers team up with non-singer personalities to perform duets in front of a panel of judges and viewers get to vote them off.
Hayden initially turned down the offer because he wanted to focus on being a doctor.
But he couldn't say no to Dr Belo, who convinced him to accept the challenge.
He recalled: 'But Vicki was like, 'Oh I thought you want to make me happy and serenade me.
'Then I thought, 'Ah! An opportunity to be a hero!', so I agreed.
'Every song I sang was dedicated to her. When I have butterflies in my stomach, I only look at her. There was one episode she wasn't in the audience because she was in Argentina, and man, I did so lousy!'
Hayden eventually made it to the Top 3, amid hysterical screaming from female fans that greeted every performance.
His exposure on Celebrity Duets was followed by several appearances in newspapers, magazines and television and radio talk shows, and showbiz threatens to take him out of his scrubs permanently.
He followed that up with a Pinoy teledrama titled Marimar.
In The Yang Sisters, his second shot at acting, he plays a travelling busker who woos his muse - played by 40-something actress Kym Ng - with song.
So dedicated is he that in preparation for future acting roles, he scheduled a trip to Shanghai to brush up on his Mandarin and lost 6kg in two weeks.
'Medicine is my first love, it's in my heart. But it's possible that entertainment can be my full-time career. I'm young, I can go back to medicine any time I want,' he said.
Dr Belo had encouraged him to pursue this alternative path, 'but with a sad heart, I think'.
He added: 'Of course, every woman wants her man to be with her all the time and be just for her.
'But she's mature about it and feels it's okay for me to make a name for myself on my own and feel great about it.'
This article was first published in The New Paper on Mar 19, 2008.
