Hayden Kho Is A Hot Property

The boyfriend of cosmetic surgeon Vicki Belo has the looks that make women swoon: high cheekbones, impish smile, Oriental eyes. As he demonstrated on GMA-7's recently concluded show Celebrity Duets, where he was one of the contestants, Hayden easily slips into a child-like persona when he entertains his fans. But once outside the glare of the spotlight, he turns into somebody else.

"There are many sides of me," he says. "It's easy to judge me and conclude that I am such a childish person. But there is a deeper side of me. No one knows the Hayden who meditates. No one knows the Hayden who reads two to three books a month."

He doesn't really mind the child tag:

"To think of me as childish is a compliment because, that part of me, I don't wanna lose touch with." But he stresses that there's much more to him than that.

"I am a boy, I am a man, I am a gentleman, I'm a knight, and I am a hero. So, that's the full range of who I am. But if there's one word-if there's one word and one animal-to really describe me, I think I'm a bull. I'm a bull in the sense that, give me a firm spot on which I can stand, and I shall move the world."

Spoken like a true Taurus (born May 20, 1980).

CHOPSUEY MAN. The 27-year-old Hayden is the fourth of five siblings that include Loewen, 31, a computer engineer; Sherryl, 30, a physical therapist; Aileen Rose, 28, a nurse; and Richard Allen, 24, a mechanical engineer. Their father, Hayden Kho Sr., is also a doctor, while their mother, Irene de la Santa, is a businesswoman. The mother is a Spanish-Filipina; the father, pure Chinese.

"That makes me," Hayden says with a boyish grin, "chopsuey."

The chopsuey man is a medical doctor- a cosmetic surgeon, to be precise. He was a ramp model at 17, taking on occasional modeling jobs for designer Pitoy Moreno, among others. He decided to take a break from modeling to devote himself to his studies.

Following in his father's footsteps, he took up medicine, graduating from the University of Santo Tomas medical school in 2005. He took the medical board exams two years later, and became a full-fledged M.D. last February.

Though he has a lot of interests, he considers medicine his greatest passion-and his true calling. "I'd like to make it clear that my first love is medicine," he says. "And this is what I feel I'm here for. My life is devoted to cosmetic surgery, to make people beautiful and feel better about themselves."

Hayden took his internship at the Makati Medical Center, but he says he also did a good deal of self-study. "During the time I was an intern, I was studying cosmetic surgery by myself. I mean, no one had to push me to study these things, 'cause I was really interested about these things."

After his internship, he studied to be a diplomate in anti-aging medicine in Europe. "There's no specific school, because the batch rotates around European countries and we follow-Greece, Nice, Paris, and even Shanghai. That was two years ago."

He hasn't taken the diplomate exam yet, because that was supposed to be last October, which was about the same time he was doing Celebrity Duets. So he will most likely take the diplomate exam in May 2008. (In medicine, a diplomate is, according to Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, "a physician qualified to practice in a medical specialty by advanced training and experience in the specialty followed by passing an intensive examination by a national board of senior specialists.")

Aside from his studies in anti-aging, he also trained in liposuction with his girlfriend, Dr. Vicki Belo, one of the pioneers of cosmetic surgery in the country. "I really had a very good training. I'd like to think that I was trained by the best, especially in liposuction surgery. Vicki Belo is the best in liposuction surgery, one of the top 10 cosmetic-surgery procedures in the world. And to be trained by someone like her is, of course, an honor to me and something that I'm really proud of."

BALANCING ACT. While doing Celebrity Duets—where the eventual winner was society columnist Tessa Prieto-Valdes—Hayden took time off from his medical practice to concentrate on his singing. "Even if you don't rehearse," he says, "even if you sing only once a week, it takes a lot of energy, and you will tend to be off-balance. You will tend to tip off. So, that's what I'm trying to do every day- balance, balance, balance."

Balance is something Hayden is obsessive about. That's because he's a multitasker whose nonmedical interests, hobbies, and activities will leave you breathless.

For one thing, he's on his way to becoming a polyglot. "I'd like to learn new languages. I speak English well. I speak Tagalog. I speak a little Chinese. I speak Portuguese. I'm learning Spanish, and I'm learning French. "

As evidenced by his Celebrity Duets gig, he's very musically inclined. "I liked music when I was high school. I self-studied the piano. I know how to play a little violin. I know how to play a little guitar. But I'm not really good—very, very good—at any of these instruments. It's just to say na gusto ko lang sila."

Hayden is also a bibliophile. He reads two to three books a month.

"My favorite books are metaphysical books, my spiritual books. I like self-help books. I like novelty. I also like novels, pero maikli lang."

His interest in literature has led to some interest in writing, but he admits that he finds it difficult to write: "My one weakness is putting thoughts into words, especially in writing, because my hands are not fast enough to jot down all the thoughts in my head."

He compensates for his lack of writing skills with his other artistic interest- drawing. "I'd like to think I'm good at drawing faces, especially eyes of women. I'd like to sketch, yes. And I'd like to try sculpture and, of course, painting."

Along with all these activities, he squeezes in some time for exercise, which he does religiously. "I go to the gym regularly, M-W-F, 6:30 in the morning, before I go to work. And then, every Thursday and Sunday mornings, I play squash with my girlfriend."

He likes to teach. "I like to teach what I know. I like to teach what I have found for myself to be true. For example, the religion I follow. The religion that I myself sort of fabricated."

THE BELIEVER. Hayden's "fabricated" faith may raise the eyebrows of followers of organized religion. It's not a religion in the strictest sense-not the kind with organized rituals, but more like a principle or basic belief that he lives by.

"I've read about a lot of religions. I've read about atheism. I read about Catholicism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism-trying to find my own religion. And then I just found it funny that whenever we pray to God, 'tapos humihingi tayo ng mga bagay-bagay, parang weird lang, kasi minsan ibibigay, minsan hindi. 'Tapos, hindi mo alam bakit ibinigay, bakit hindi."

His soul-searching led him to the belief that "there's only one single universal soul," as he puts it.

"You can't say my soul is better than yours. But to distinguish yourself as an 'I'-ibig sabihin, ako-is to separate yourself from the rest. And from that separation comes jealousy and comparison and grief and anger, di ba? No'ng ginawa ni God 'yong universal soul, dinistribute niya into many individual people, into many forms of faith, which is us."

Hayden could go on and on with these theological and philosophical musings. To make a long disquisition a bit shorter, he has arrived at the belief that everything we do could ultimately be for the benefit of the universal soul.

"Naisip ko lagi sa sarili ko, what if every word I say, every thought I have, every deed I do, brings benefit to the whole world? So, parang nagkaroon ako ng peace. And then, ganyan na, parang, kahit ano na mangyari, kahit good o bad, hindi na 'ko humihingi ng kahit ano kay God. Parang feeling ko kasi, nasa loob ko na siya."

Despite this belief, he continues to attend church service. But he does not limit himself to just one church. "I can go to any church because the teachings are okey naman, e. Tama naman kasi ang mga 'tinuturo, e. Pero wala akong sinusundan religiously. I follow my own religion. And my religion basically is: the Lord is inside me. I need not ask anything. If I want something, then I will make it happen."

Hayden's thinking has obviously been influenced by the Law of Attraction, a New Age philosophy that says that whatever you think will happen, will happen. Made popular by Rhonda Byrne's book The Secret, the Law posits that you can get whatever you want if you say you want it.

"Only thing I have to do is put it in my head, say it once, never tell any other soul about it, and then in one week it will happen. And it does-lahat ng intentions ko, lahat ng ni-list-down ko na gusto ko. I didn't even have to work for it. I just wrote it down. I just said it once. And then it happened all in one year. All in one year."

But first, Hayden says, a person should find peace within himself. "Para kahit anong mangyari sa 'yo, okey lang. Matalo ka sa Celebrity Duets, maaksidente ka, mawalan ka ng boses, mapango ka, magkasakit ka, masunog bahay mo-everything should be okay because everything is falling into place the way you want it to, the way you attract things to yourself.

"Now, a piece of caution lang. Hindi lahat naman ng mabuti, in the end maganda ang kakalabasan. Hindi naman lahat ng masamang nangyari, in the end masama talaga, e. Sometimes it's all for the better. Hindi enough na alam mo 'yong gusto mo. Kailangan sa lahat ng nangyayari sa 'yo, at peace ka. Parang 'Okey lang, okey lang lahat.' Dapat gano'n."

He considers three figures as his mentors in his spiritual beliefs.

"I learned, number one, from Jesus Christ. And I learned from the Hindu god Shiva. And I learned from Einstein. The fibers of their beings are now running through my fibers. They are inside me, and I know that. And any time I want their intelligence, it will come to me in the snap of a finger. That's how confident I am. That's how spiritual I'd like to think I am. If I want the intelligence of Einstein today, right this moment it will come to me."

BOYFRIEND. Deep spiritual discussions, Hayden says, are favorite bonding activities between him and Doktora Vicki. "The main reason why we got along pretty well is because we are both interested in these things." But he makes it clear that, more often than not, it's he who influences his girlfriend. "Si Vicki is very in touch with her spirituality. But 'yong mga original thoughts, genuine thoughts, mga bago—madalas ako 'yong nagtuturo sa kanya. It's not the other way around."

From the way he talks about his girlfriend of two years, you can see that he's clearly head over heels in love with her. He loves everything about her because he accepts her for who she is. He believes that acceptance is very important to keep a relationship going.

"Don't try to change her. Love everything about her—if she's childish, if she's nakakainis paminsan-minsan, matigas ang ulo o ano. You have to love everything about that person so that you find everything cute. Kung nagseselos man—ay, cute!

"That's how I feel about Vicki. I love everything about her, including her childishness, her pagiging spoiled brat, her pagiging masakit minsan magsalita, pagiging straightforward, pagiging tough and sobrang quick-witted. I love everything about her. Kahit nagta-tantrums yan, kahit nag-aaway na kami, titingnan ko lang 'yan—ay, naku, ang cute-cute mo talaga!"

Like any other couple, they've had their share of disagreements. But they make up for it by the small things they do for each other. He gives an example: "I don't know how to cook. But may time I prepared a full dinner for her avant-garde na cooking, ha, hindi 'yong basta-basta. That was Christmas. Then, of course, umiyak siya, kasi 'yon pala isa sa mga dreams niya."

It was for Vicki that Hayden joined Celebrity Duets, the unique singing contest hosted by Ogie Alcasid and Regine Velasquez. This was Hayden's harana for Vicki. "This was an invitation to me by GMA-7, and I declined. And then she goes, parang, 'O, akala ko kakantahan mo 'ko?' Okay, sabi ko, This is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna sing in public for you.'"

One thing he likes about Vicki, he says, is that she has not lost touch with her innocence and childishness. Despite the age gap between them—she's 50, he's 27, just a little bit older than Vicki's son Quark, 26, and her daughter Cristalle, 24—he can say of his girlfriend: "Mas bata pa sa akin 'yan, e. Mas matanda pa 'ko diyan, e."

He understands, though, that no matter how much he says he loves Vicki, many people will still doubt his sincerity, precisely because of the huge age difference. Society may be comfortable with the idea of a 50-year-old man having a 27-year-old girlfriend, but people turn snide when the genders are switched.

"Hindi naman usual relationship 'yong makikita ng mga tao, e," Hayden says. "They will see a May-December affair. These people na kumukutya sa amin, tumitira sa amin, they can't find their peace. They can't I don't know what's wrong with them. Hindi ko ma-gets kung bakit kailangan kaming siraan, kailangan kaming tirahin. They just can't find their peace. And I hope they'll find their peace."

Once the critics "find their peace," will Hayden marry Vicki? Only time can tell.

"It will come," Hayden says. "It will come.