{"id":2168535,"date":"2025-11-20T14:28:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T14:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2168535"},"modified":"2025-11-20T14:28:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T14:28:45","slug":"cristy-fermin-is-the-final-boss-of-celebrity-gossip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/cristy-fermin-is-the-final-boss-of-celebrity-gossip\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristy Fermin is the Final Boss of Celebrity Gossip"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The veteran showbiz reporter Cristy Fermin has died four deaths. But not from the libel cases lodged against her by celebrities she\u2019s criticized. She\u2019s never even gotten death threats. Since starting out as an entertainment writer in the 1970s, ditching college to write about the likes of Tirso Cruz III and Vilma Santos, the feisty gossip columnist has ruffled some feathers, made enemies out of show business\u2019 big names, got swindled by a trusted aide, figured in a million-peso libel case, and even got kicked out of a major television station. But none of these killed her.<\/p>\n

\u201cApat na beses na akong pinatay,\u201d she tells me one afternoon at her home, surrounded by some two thousand paintings, three of her 22 dogs, and a fog of Philip Morris 100s, her choice of cigarette stored in a tin canister to keep them crisp.<\/p>\n

According to unverified online sources, she\u2019s died four times. \u201cMay kandila pa. Ang mali lang [ay ang] birthday [ko].\u201d Why people would want her dead is not lost on \u201cNanay Cristy,\u201d as most people in the industry fondly call her. \u201cKasi ang mga artista, maninipis, mga balat sibuyas. Ayaw na ayaw nila na sila ay itinatama at sila ay pinapansin. [At] ang mga fans? The moment you hit their idol, mumurahin ka na gaya ng mga bashers,\u201d she says in her gravelly voice that most Filipinos know too well. After all, Cristy Fermin is synonymous with celebrity gossip \u2014 is celebrity gossip. Even the middle-aged heterosexual male Grab driver beamed upon hearing where we\u2019re headed. \u201cDito pala nakatira si Cristy Fermin,\u201d he says after not having spoken to us during most of the ride.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBinuksan mo ang pintuan [tapos] noong pumasok kami, kasalanan pa namin?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Cristy Fermin<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

She started writing a column in the weekly entertainment magazine Modern Romances<\/em> and True Confession<\/em>, where fans sent questions like \u201cAno po ang address ni Vilma Santos?\u201d or \u201cKailan po ang birthday ni Nora Aunor?\u201d (She\u2019s a self-confessed Noranian herself). But as a newcomer eager to write opinionated stories, she wanted more. Thus began her stint at movie entertainment magazine Jingle Sensation<\/em>, the \u201cmagazine without question marks,\u201d and its sibling weekly Jingle Extra Hot<\/em> that boasted \u201cmatitindi at matataray na columns at hot news.\u201d \u201c\u2018Yan ang mga bentang-benta noong araw. Nagsulat ako diyan. That made us,\u201d she says, referring to her crop of enduring entertainment journalists that includes Jun Nardo and Manny Valera.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHindi ako matapang; Mapaninindigan lang ako,\u201d says Cristy Fermin.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cTapos noong \u201886, gumawa na ako ng Mariposa magazines na nagtagumpay naman.\u201d But before she can elaborate on what made her six publications that came out every day of the week a hit, Adele\u2019s \u201cSomeone Like You\u201d blares off on one of her Nokia E52s. She has seven of these feature phones with a T9 keypad released in 2009. She\u2019s holding on to them until next year when it is supposed to be phased out. \u201cSabi kasi ng NTC (National Telecommunications Commission), ito daw ang ginagamit ng mga scammer.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is her tip line. On a single day, it probably rings a hundred times. The other unit sings Bruno Mars\u2019 \u201cVersace On The Floor\u201d whenever a message, usually dirt on some celebrity, comes through. That afternoon, following a blind item on her YouTube show \u201cShowbiz Now Na,\u201d most text messages were about which actors have a small dick or are \u201cDuty Free\u201d as she and her cabal of insiders call it. Who are their sources? I ask. She hands me the E52 whose screen cites the gays of Southern Tagalog city. \u201cIbig-sabihin na-getlak ng mga bading.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrities write their own stories, Fermin insists. Her job is to opine \u2014 which is what gets her into legal troubles \u2014 based on what they put out and from stories of people in these stars\u2019 orbits: those they\u2019ve casually slept with, disgruntled glam teams, disowned family members, wronged managers. They share too much online, she says, \u201cAt doon kami kumukuha. Public figure siya e. Kaya kami nanghihimasok. Binuksan mo ang pintuan [tapos] noong pumasok kami, kasalanan pa namin?\u201d<\/p>\n

Allusions to trespassing aside, it\u2019s celebrities who often come knocking at her door to air their grievances. \u201cSabihin mo sa akin ang totoo, ipagtatanggol kita,\u201d she assures them. If they tell her not to release it, she won\u2019t. \u201c\u2018Pag tumawag, \u2018Nanay, pwede mo na ilabas.\u2019 Papuputukin ko na.\u201d Whether they come to her out of trust or as savvy public figures aware of her reach and reputation is the least of Fermin\u2019s concerns. \u201cSa totoo ako lagi,\u201d she says repeatedly during our hour-long interview, always with a straight face, her distinctive set of eyebrows on full display. \u201cBut the moment I find out na ikaw ay nagsisinungaling, ikaw ang bibirahin ko.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more stories in our Guilty Pleasure of Showbiz Gossip Issue. Available to purchase at\u00a0<\/em>sarisari.shopping<\/em><\/a>. Get digital access to Rolling Stone Philippines magazines\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Christian San Jose<\/a><\/span> Christian San Jose is the Managing Editor of Rolling Stone Philippines, overseeing editorial operations and covering culture and the arts. He was previously the Associate Editor of Nolisoli.ph where h… Read More<\/a> <\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source rollingstonephilippines.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The veteran showbiz reporter Cristy Fermin has died four deaths. But not from the libel cases lodged against her by celebrities she\u2019s criticized. She\u2019s never even gotten death threats. Since starting out as an entertainment writer in the 1970s, ditching college to write about the likes of Tirso Cruz III and Vilma Santos, the feisty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2168536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2168535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Cristy-Fermin-is-the-Final-Boss-of-Celebrity-Gossip.webp.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2168535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2168537,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168535\/revisions\/2168537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2168536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2168535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2168535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2168535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}