shley is definitely a daddy's girl. Sheryl shares this lovely anecdote with us: “When I was delivering Ashley – normal delivery siya – sabi sa akin ni Norman , alam na raw niya ang explanation or true definition ng love at first sight. Sabi niya, it was seeing his daughter for the first time. ‘Yong connection na nakita niya doon sa daughter niya, ‘yong love na nag-overflow sa kanya, ‘yon daw ‘yon.” Here they are in Tita Ronnie's and Tita Susan's lovely Greenhills garden. That's FPJ and Susan Roces, who else?

•  Asked why Ashley remains an only child, Sheryl says: “It took us a while to have Ashley, e. Almost five years into our marriage. So, right now, we're still enjoying her, plus I'm also enjoying my life as an independent person na wala munang iintindihing kasunod.”

•  Sheryl's participation in Regal's Mano Po 3 has been clinched. But Sheryl says her attitude to projects is still: “Hindi naman ako nagmamadaling magka-film-project, e. My notion is, it will come. Right now, even though maraming offers, we have to be very selective. Hindi na ako bata, e. Hindi na ako teenager na pa-tweetums. I want people to see me in a different light na, kasi I've matured. If I'm going to do projects, gusto ko naman ‘yong mga projects na meron namang substance.” She adds: “The reason naman why I wanted to come back home is not only because I wanted to try showbiz again… I wanted to see my family and settle some matters like, you know, mag-give-respect to my dad who passed away and all that, na hindi ko nga nagawa noon.” (Ricky Belmonte died of a stroke three years ago, around the time Sheryl gave birth to Ashley.)

Sheryl, now 30, and Norman, 35, were married in civil rites at the Ciudad Fernandia Restaurant in Greenhills, San Juan , on August 21, 1996. Sheryl was at the peak of her career, but she knew she had found the right man and was willing to sacrifice big time. Shortly after the wedding, she went off to start a new life with him in faraway San Francisco.

Now, eight years later, Sheryl tells YES! how she decided that Norman – a total stranger to showbiz folk and Sheryl fans – was her “Mr. Dream Boy.”

SHE SANG A LOVE SONG

Sheryl met Norman in early 1996 at a Filipiniana festival in San Francisco . She was one of the guest performers; he was one of the volunteer security men assigned to guard her.

“Noong portion ko na,” Sheryl recalls, “hinatid nila ako sa stage. Tinanong ko siya, ‘What's your name?'”

When she sang “Mr. Dream Boy,” her 1980s' hit song, she changed the name of the dream boy in the lyrics to Norman .

For his part, Norman decided to be her real-life dream boy. Luckily for him, Sheryl was not immediately going home to the Philippines after that nights show. She was proceeding to Antioch , California , to stay for a few more months with her mom, former actress Rosemarie Sonora, now married to an American.

Norman – born in San Francisco , of Filipino parents – had no idea that the lady of his affections was a movie princess back home.

“Ang may alam, mga parents niya,” says Sheryl. “Siya, nakalakihan na niya mga American movies, American way of living.”

Sheryl found this clueless ness endearing. But what really won her over was Norman 's determination.

“Biruin mo, every time, after his work in San Francisco , he's going to travel to my mom's place in Antioch para lang makita ako! Ang that's no joke kasi – lalo na pag-ma-traffic – it will take him like two hours [of driving]… Araw-araw ‘yon. Ginawa niya ‘yon. Mai-in-love ka talaga, ‘di ba?”

By the time she went to Hawaii for another show, Norman, who followed her there, was already her boyfriend. And when they returned to California , Norman asked Rosemarie for Sheryl's hand in marriage.  

HER MARRIED HER THREE TIMES

“After doing the show in Hawaii , we got married,” Sheryl discloses, adding: “Actually we got married three times.”

This is the first time Sheryl is going public with this information.

The very first wedding took place at the Chapel of Bells in South Lake Tahoe , also in California . “Our only witness was my mom. It was a very casual wedding, kasi he was only wearing jeans and T-shirt, and I was only wearing white pants and a blue shirt.”

Then, she has to fly back to the Philippines to finish what was to be her last movie, Joel Lamangan's Ikaw Naman ang Iiyak.

Then came the hard part – telling her family.

“First, I told my brother Chris. Her cried. And then I told my aunt [Susan Roces, her mother's sister and Sheryl's custodian in the Philippines ]. Lahat kami, mixed emotions. They were happy for me and at the same time they were sad, ‘cause siyempre, and kasal, dib a, pinagpe-preparahan ‘yan, e.”

Finally, she had to inform her father, Ricky Belmonte.

“I didn't know how I would break it to my dad. Kasi, my dad, ako ang baby girl niya, e, di ba? Iba ‘yong dating sa father ko. Umiyak din siya.”

The fact that Norman lives in the United States added to the father's pain.

“Kasi, ibig sabihin, the separation is not only, like, close separation? It's far, long-distance separation.”

When Sheryl felt it was the right time, she had Norman come to Manila to formally meet his father-in-law. What came next was the Ciudad Fernandia wedding. Then, we saw Sheryl no more.

“Sabi ko kasi sa sarili ko, I would like to be a good wife to Norman . And, of course, i-enjoy naman the private life na hindi ka palaging parang under a microscope? May times din sa buhay ng isang artista na sometimes you've really, like, had enough? Had enough of all the tsismis, ‘yong mga ganoon.”

In the United States , one year after the Ciudad Fernandia affair, Norman married her again – in church this time, the Mission Dolores Basilica.

“It's actually one of the most historical churches in San Francisco, kasi when there was one big, big earthquake in the 1800s, after noon, nakatayo pa rin ‘yong church na ‘yon. And that church meant a lot to Norman ‘cause when he was going to grammar school – which is like grade school dito sa atin – nagsakristan siya doon.”

It was her father who walked her down the aisle.

ASHLEY CAME ALONG

Though sheltered and pampered here, Sheryl says she did not have a hard time adjusting to married life in San Francisco where she had no more help.

‘Yong pag-a-adjust ko lang is ‘yong walang masyadong tao sa bahay. Although his family lives near us, they don't bother us or get into our space.”

In the beginning, Sheryl could not say no to Filipinos who invited her to do shows around the U.S.

“But, then sabi ko sa sarili, and then I told my husband: ‘You know what, hon, parang I'm so tired of doing my showbiz routine. Why don't I just try, you know, living a different life, like being just a regular person? What if I go to school?' and he said: ‘Okay, it's up to you. Whatever makes you feel comfortable and happy, then, you know, do it.”

So she enrolled in college, and at the same time got a job in the administration department of a nearby construction firm.

“It's just three minutes away from our house. So I didn't really have to drive the freeway. It's just the side street that I took.”

When she gave birth to Ashley, she quit school but continued to work.

“I was bringing her with me to work till she was nine months old,” she recalls. “Kasi sa office, dalawa lang kaming babae; ‘yong asawa ng boss ko who's Japanese – Amerikano ‘yong boss – ‘tsaka ako. The office is children-friendly. So meron si Ashley na playpen, mga toys…”

Sheryl stayed with the firm for two years. When Ashley started crawling, she decided it was time that the job, too, had to go. “When you have a baby things change in your life.”

And now that Ashley is three, Sheryl has decided it is time that her daughter got acquainted with her Philippines based relatives. Already, Ashley seems to be contemplating her future. On the plane to Manila she asked her disbelieving mother: “We're going to the Philippines , Mom? Am I going to be a movie star?” - -