Actress Nikki Valdez is learning the most valuable lesson in showbiz, expressed in the saying, “The show must go on.”

“When I was starting out in showbiz, someone gave a talk (I can’t remember who) about making sure that when we get to work, we are 101% ready. That the only reason why we won’t be able to work is because we are already dead. Meaning? There is absolutely NO EXCUSE to not go to work,” she recalled in her Instagram page yesterday, April 12.

The “Bagong Umaga” actress admitted that she came to realize the real meaning of the mantra when she went through a bout with COVID-19. She was apprehensive about getting back to work after her successful fight with the dreaded disease.

“After recovering from COVID, I admittedly have been a bit hesitant; thinking if I could work without fear of getting sick again or if I could give my 101%,” she said.

But after attending a meeting yesterday, Valdez was glad to have been “reminded of my purpose as an actor.”

nikki valdez ig — Image: Instagram/@nikkivaldez_

“Why [ABS-CBN] does everything to give good entertainment to so many people going through so much in this crisis. We are at war, thus we, the actors and production people, are soldiers who need to protect ourselves and all the people around us so we could continue to entertain and give a little inspiration to all of you,” she said.

She then asked her followers to “say a prayer for us all who are out there in this battle doing everything to serve through the work that we do.”

Three days ago, Valdez revealed that she and her husband Luis Garcia got infected with the novel coronavirus. In an April 10 Instagram post, she said COVID-19 “will toy not only with your physical health but mostly with your emotions. [It’s] been the hardest first [seven] days in isolation.” JB

Nikki Valdez looks back at early ‘Star Circle’ days as she marks 24 years in showbiz