The final night of actor-director Ricky Davao’s wake was not only a farewell—it was an emotional reckoning for those who loved him, admired him, and walked beside him through the many seasons of his life. Among the mourners, one figure stood silently heartbroken: Jackie Lou Blanco, his former wife and longtime partner in life and in art.
As the quiet hymns filled the air and tributes were offered one after another, Jackie Lou sat close to the casket, visibly shaken. When her name was called to speak, she rose slowly, clutching a letter in her hands—her voice trembled with every word.
“I thought I had prepared myself,” she began. “But nothing prepares you for this. For saying goodbye to someone who was once your everything.”
A Final Goodbye Between Two Souls Forever Tied
Married in 1989 and parents to three children, Ricky Davao and Jackie Lou Blanco were once one of Philippine showbiz’s most admired couples. Though their marriage ended in 2011, they remained deeply connected—not only as co-parents but as friends who knew each other’s depths in ways no one else did.
“You knew how to make me laugh when I wanted to cry. You were there in my darkest days. And even after we went our separate ways, we still showed up for each other,” Jackie Lou said, holding back sobs.
As she finished her eulogy, she broke down—tears streaming down her face as she stepped down from the podium, receiving a quiet embrace from their daughter, Rikki Mae, who herself looked devastated.
A Wake Filled with Love, Regret, and Reverence
The final night of Ricky’s wake was attended by close friends, family members, and icons of Philippine entertainment. The air was thick with grief, but also with warmth—a warmth that comes only from witnessing the legacy of a life well-lived.
Directors, actors, and industry colleagues recounted Ricky’s professionalism, his sensitivity as a filmmaker, and his courage in tackling stories that mattered. But no tribute felt more personal than Jackie Lou’s.
“She didn’t just speak as a co-parent or ex-wife,” one friend noted, “She spoke as someone who never stopped loving Ricky in her own quiet way.”
The Unspoken Pain of Parting
Sources close to the family revealed that Jackie Lou visited Ricky regularly in his final months as he battled illness, though the two never publicized it. Despite their separation, theirs was a connection not easily undone by time or circumstance.
“He was my first love,” Jackie once said in an earlier interview. “And maybe, in some corner of my heart, he always will be.”
Her tears on the last night of the wake weren’t just those of grief—they were tears of unfinished stories, of memories relived, of a bond lost in the physical world, but still fiercely alive in spirit.
Ricky Davao: More Than an Artist
Ricky Davao, who passed away on May 1, 2025, at the age of 63, leaves behind a career marked by brilliance and bravery. A multi-awarded actor and director, he used his platform to tell complex, compassionate stories. But more than that, he was a father, a mentor, and a man whose quiet integrity left an impact on everyone he met.
As the final prayers were offered and candles flickered softly into the night, Jackie Lou remained by his casket—her hand resting gently atop it, as if hoping for one last response.
“Goodbye, Ricky. You will forever be part of me,” she whispered, in a voice that cracked open the hearts of everyone listening.
A Love That Outlived Labels
In the end, what Jackie Lou Blanco gave the world that night was not just a goodbye—it was a reminder. That love, even when transformed by time or pain, never really dies. And sometimes, the deepest love stories are the ones we no longer speak of—until the very end.
Jackie Lou Blanco opened up about her regrets in life.
In an interview with Boy Abunda, the veteran actress was asked about her thoughts on regrets.
“I have many regrets but after a while, you need to move on and say, ‘Okay, this is what I’ve learned and kung ano man ‘yung hindi ko ginawang tama dati, hindi ko na siya gagawin,’” she said.
Jackie Lou highlighted that the only thing that you can do when faced with regrets is to take all the learnings in.
“Kasi ‘yun lang ‘yung pwede mong gawin e. It’s the learning—what you learned from that na pwede mong i-share sa iba who are going through that and after a while, you need to forgive yourself for the wrong things that you have done,” she stated.
She added that if there is one thing that she could change in the past, Jackie said that she hoped she did not part ways with Ricky Davao.
“I hope Ricky and I don’t break up if I can change him only because I can see how affected my children were,” she said.
“Although they are very understanding, you know that they have been affected in many ways. So I hope [we broke up] so that they are not affected in those ways,” she added.
Jackie Lou and Ricky were married in 1989. They have three children.
The actress stressed that since she could no longer change the past, she and Ricky make sure to co-parent their children well.”What I can only do now, both of us, is to still co-parent and to still, I guess, do what we can with what we have now because you can’t change that anymore,” she remarked.
Jackie shared that they actually live close to each other.”If there’s any emergency, if there’s anything, the kids can just go back and forth,” she said.
On her friendship with Ricky, Jackie said: “We’re not chummy-chummy. [We have] not-so-long conversations but we do [talk].”
She added: “If I have to tell Ricky something that I cannot say in person, I text him. Sometimes he’ll answer, sometimes he doesn’t answer. But even if he doesn’t answer, whatever I approach him [he] makes a way. So, that’s okay with me.”
In the same interview, the actress was asked how motherhood changed her life.
“Motherhood has been such a blessing, I mean there is an extension of you because there are human beings that are dependent on you and one of the most beautiful blessings in my life is to be a mother and I am blessed with good children.”
Jackie Lou, who is also a grandmother now, was also asked about the difference between being a mother and a grandmother.
“Because when you are a mom, there is disciplining, there is more responsibility. When you are a [grandmother], or me my grandpa calls me Momam, I just enjoy them, I don’t have to discipline them,” she pointed out.
“My mom used to say, ‘It’s up to you, as long as they want to spread out here in my room, okay. If they open my fridge, there are chocolates, okay. They can’t have chocolate with you, they can have chocolate here,’” she added.
