Wanting You - Mandy Gonzalez X Chris Jackson - COMPLETED

45 - Articles?

I realised I had millions of notifications, I chose to ignore them and just go to my chat with the core4 as we called ourselves. It's all three of them telling me about a specific article from the previous night. I wasn't going to read any today but given they all seemed stressed about it and were worried they I hadn't messaged them I checked my general notifications. I was a bit more concerned seeing most of them were about this one article. I reluctantly clicked on the link and opened the article.

'Mandy Gonzalez and Chris Jackson a couple? Is this the right thing to do?'

I instantly frowned at seeing the article title. I knew exactly what was coming.

'Actors Mandy Gonzalez and Chris Jackson revealed how their onstage chemistry in the new Broadway Musical 'In The Heights', which opened March 9th 2008, was so strong. There was real chemistry there as well. The two kisses during the bows and multiple times on the red carpet after the performance. They were practically inseparable all evening.

Gonzalez and Jackson were having an interview with BroadwayWorld next to me and Gonzalez was carrying a child like it was her son. Knowing Gonzalez personally, I know that's not the case. She left the red carpet and walked off leaving Jackson alone for the interview with me. I spoke to Jackson and here's our conversation.

Adam - Chris, how long have you been involved with In The Heights and could you please tell us your story of the show from the beginning.

Chris - I started the show December of 2002. I was asked to do an audition for reading for the production the following summer. I got the job and have been with the show ever since. The cast has changed a lot over the years from that very first reading but the Broadway cast is phenomenal and I couldn't ask for a better group of actors and performers to play these roles. Everyone matches their character so well and we all bonded incredibly fast. The company is the same as the Off-Broadway company besides the role of Nina Rosario, which is now played by Mandy Gonzalez after a tragic incident a few weeks into performances.

Adam - may I just ask what happened?

Chris - Veronica Vazquez was in the role from the beginning of the readings. I developed a talent crush on her and that soon became a real crush and the two of us fell in love. We got married and had a son. We got to start the show off Broadway but a few weeks into previews, just before opening night on February 8th last year, she fell very ill. After various hospital trips she was diagnosed with cancer and given a few weeks to live. The two of us to do opening night as our parents were there and the second show. We then both pulled out and spent her last two weeks as a family with our three and a half year old, Douglas, who Mandy was holding a moment ago, she just gone to drop him off with our parents who are going to take him home.

Adam - I'm sorry for your loss. How has having Mandy in the role changed the show and changed you? You are evidently very close after losing your wife a year ago.

Chris - Mandy and I are a couple now, and have been for six months. I actually met Mandy over a year and a half ago when I found her collapsed in the park after her boyfriend broke up with her. I know she won't mind me sharing this, we spoke about it before today and said we both wanted to be completely open about our relationship. So I found her collapsed and I helped her up. She told me how she was a failing actress and gave her the information. I then found out she had the role in our last week of off-broadway. I wanted to do the final week just to show myself that I could move on and do the show without my wife as my love interest in the show. I was obviously very happy for her as she had landed her first role since 2002. In the months since her boyfriend left her she was homeless, she had very little income and was living in cheep hotel rooms. Without Veronica I didn't have the money to afford daycare for our son. I basically offered her the opportunity of having the spare room in my house to live in if she looked after Douglas in return. She thankfully accepted and it went from there. She became very close to my son and a lot closer to me. We both started developing feelings for one another. And it went from there. She was a massive help for me after Veronica passed and we are always there for each other. Once rehearsals for Broadway started we became even closer and since August have been a couple. And that's basically it. She's my best friend and is the best girlfriend I could have ever asked for. I love her to bits, I know Doug loves her so much and our family right now is perfect.

Adam - how do think the public will take this news of your relationship? Six months is not very long for someone to move on after they lose a wife.

Chris- we both hope the public will take it positively, but in all honesty, what the public think doesn't matter to us that much. We are happy together, we love each other and that's what matters. We kept it hidden for six months and we felt the public deserved to know at this point. It was also very hard to hide it on social media as most things we did were together. This is about us, we are happy and that's what matters.

Adam - Well thank you for talking to us today Chris and I hope the show lasts a long time as do you and Mandy.

Chris - Thank you.

Chris moved onto the next interview and Mandy returned and joined him.

So what do I think? They are fools, in all honesty and I don't mind saying that, they evidently don't mind. Mandy was fresh out of a relationship, Chris had just lost his wife. History is just repeating itself. He's 'fallen in love' with an onstage love interest. Knowing Gonzalez, she won't stick around for long, she's there for the kid, not for Jackson. From my interview with Chris, her breakup story, to him and all her friends, in the park is not the truth. She just trying to play around and see what she can get from him. For any more information on the In The Heights opening night, please don't hesitate to contact me @adamdavis on Twitter.

Adam Davis
New York Broadway reporter'

I threw my phone onto the far side of the couch. How could Adam do that to me? Was he looking for revenge now that I've moved on? I couldn't let Chris read the article. He obviously didn't know that the man interviewing him was my EX! I left my phone on the couch and ran into our bedroom sobbing. Chris was too deep asleep to notice anything. I got ready for bed then climbed under the covers, putting Chris's arms over me. I cried myself to sleep, not knowing what to do next.