F

ilm and soap opera actress Ririn Ekawati returned to the entertainment industry three years ago following her divorce from Edwin Abeng, the son of noted businessman Tanri Abeng.

After playing a teacher in the drama Rindu Purnama (Missing the full moon), she recently played another teacher in the children’s film Serdadu Kumbang (Beetle Troop).

“I am a single parent with a 7-year-old daughter. Her name is Puti Jasmine Salsabila Abeng. Whenever I have free time, I always try to spend it with her. I also have to share her with my ex-husband on the weekend, so there will be times when I am on my own.

During those times, usually I go to my new restaurant in Kemang, South Jakarta. I started the restaurant along with some other celebrities including Lukman Sardi and Baim Wong.

I will mingle with diners and talk about anything with them. As owners, we try to visit the restaurant every day, especially in the first month of opening. When we show up, the customers love to take pictures with us.

Other times, I just hang out with my friends or go to a beauty salon. I am addicted to salons, I only enjoy treatments such as massages and body rubs.

Sometimes I take my daughter to the salon, but she only likes to get a cream bath or back massage. She does not like other people giving her a body rub – I do that for her.

I usually give her a body rub before bathing her on Sunday. The moment is really our time because I am mostly busy on weekdays and she is busy at school too. If both of us have a few days off, we will go to a nearby city such as Bandung in West Java. Our favorite country to spend a long holiday is Japan. Puti chose it because she loves Japanese food.

Unfortunately, I rarely have time for a holiday due to my hectic schedule. That is why I often prefer to stay at home, call a spa therapist, swim and cook something with my daughter. I think I spend too much time working outside the house compared to taking care of her, so I try to spend my leisure time with her as often as possible.

Somehow, my daughter has matured faster than other children her age – maybe because she is raised by divorced parents. We always chat and talk at night. There are times when she asks me why I do not pick her up at school like her friends’ mothers.

I try to make her understand that unlike me, her friends’ mothers have regular work schedules. I also try to show her see the positive side of my profession by saying that her friends’ mothers do not appear in films, whereas she has a mother who acts in films and appears on the big screen. She smiles and agrees.

My ex-husband and I try to make our daughter feel that we are not separated. If she wants the three of us to go out together, we do so. I also let her know where I am and what I am doing. I always take pictures of the places I visit so I can show them to her.

Sometimes I only return home in the morning when on a shoot and I want her to know that I do that for her. Being a single parent was not my dream, but I have accepted it and am trying to live with it.”

— As told to Indah Setiawati