The real Sam Milby on- and off-camera

Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.

Despite being in the limelight for 16 years now, Sam Milby still likes to keep his private life as exclusive as possible. A quick visit to his verified Instagram account and one will notice his posts are mostly about ongoing projects — personal updates are rare.

And while some of his colleagues would post life update in between new projects, Milby did the opposite. In fact, for 2022, his first Instagram post was about his upcoming show, “A Family Affair,” which he shared in the latter part of May.

It’s no surprise, then, that many of his fans have missed him since his last outing in 2021 as Gabriel in “Ang Sa Iyo ay Akin.”

After dealing with a personal loss, Sam Milby is raring to comeback to work via his upcoming primetime series, ‘A Family Affair’ (below) with Ivana Alawi and Gerald Anderson. INSTAGRAM PHOTOS/STARCREATIVESTV

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But the time he spent away from the spotlight was intentionally used to bond with his family.

“After my last show, I went home to Ohio. At that time, my dad had been diagnosed with dementia and later we found out it’s Alzheimer’s.

“In the 16 years that I’ve been here in the Philippines, I would only spend short trips in Ohio. That time, I stayed in Ohio for three months. I didn’t know how many days he had left but I was able to stay with my family,” Milby recalled.

After his extended break, the actor was still able to travel to Africa with girlfriend Catriona Gray for a travel show in October. However, he got the dreaded call and immediately decided to fly home.

“I lost dad in November. It’s been a lot to take in. I’m still in the process. Even if I was there and witnessed everything when he passed away, I feel like I’m still kind of in denial,” he shared thoughtfully.

With this experience, Milby said he was reminded of how short life is.

“I wish I spent more time with my parents when I could have had. When my dad already had Alzheimer’s, he’d act that he knew me but I could tell in his eyes that he didn’t, he was just being polite.”

Despite this big challenge, Milby still considers himself blessed in other areas of his life, especially in his career.

One of the things he’s most grateful for is his comeback in primetime with “A Family Affair,” the upcoming TV series he is co-starring with Ivana Alawi, Gerald Anderson, and Jake Ejercito, among others.

The story revolves around Alawi’s character Cherryred who gets caught in between Estrella brothers David (Milby) and Paco (Anderson). Besides the love triangle, the show also promises an explosive story line that creative manager Jay Fernando described as “a hybrid of suspense and family drama.”

“It’s equally heavy on the suspense and the family part. Think of it as ‘Tanging Yaman’ with suspense,” Fernando furthered during an online media conference.

Zooming in on his character, Milby said David will be relatable.

“He does represent those people that are left with the hard choice. As the eldest, David had to choose between love and family. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to my character.”

On a side note, many viewers who have seen the official trailer of the show noticed Milby sharing intimate scenes with Alawi. This begged the question, is his girlfriend Gray — a celebrity nonetheless but have yet to dabble in acting — ready to see him in this light?

“The one thing with her, she understands even if she is not an actress. We had a few talks and she’s very, very understanding. I think that’s hard to find, you know, obviously with someone that’s not in the business. Hindi siya selosa — the trust is there. I’m thankful that I have someone like that,” Milby finally shared.