MANILA, Philippines — Actress Maricar Reyes finally opened up about what she recalled as the “darkest chapter” of her life in her book titled “Maricar.”

It can be recalled that Maricar was involved in a video scandal with celebrity doctor Hayden Kho Jr. in 2009, but she kept mum on the issue until now.

According to her website, the book is all about “Maricar’s long journey and process of healing.”

“Maricar wants to let women know that they are not alone in their struggles. There is always hope and a way out of any dark situation,” the book’s summary added.

In her recent live video on Instagram, Maricar said the book is special to her as it enables her to give advice to others on how to properly handle the problem.

“It took a long time from 2009 to the start of when that thing happened to me publicly, until 2022. It took 12 years for me to write this book. So sobra siyang meaningful sa akin and it took a long time to heal and process,” she said.

“If you guys are going through something na mabigat or something na mahirap and you don’t know how to solve it, there’s really a process. And don’t be too hard on yourself if you feel like ang tagal. Kasi ako nga 12 years bago ako naging okay, enough to really talk about it,” she added.

Maricar believed that it took time for her to talk about what happened before.

“It took me 12 years to get to a point where I’m stable enough to talk about it and have a heart to help people. So kung meron kang pinagdadaanan na mabigat, it will take time. Parang i-mindset mo na ang sarili mo na it’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint,” she said.

“Kasi ang dami ngayon na parang quick sprint is the key, parang a lot of people want things to be fixed right away. And there are things that are fixed right away. Pero ‘yung mga malalalim na bagay, especially in our own hearts if there are things that need to be fixed, ‘yun ang mabigat at matagal. So don’t be too hard on yourself and be patient with the process,” she added.