IN PHOTOS: The sweetest photos of Richard Yap and his wife Melody
The love story of Kapuso leading man Richard Yap and his non-showbiz wife is truly inspiring.
Since Richard is of Chinese descent and Melody is a Filipina, their budding relationship was met with much opposition from Richard's conservative and traditional father.
However, the two fought for their love and built a future for themselves together.
Richard and Melody first got married in a civil wedding ceremony in 1993.
Their church wedding followed in 1995.
The couple has been blessed with two kids, Dylan and Ashley.
Both Richard and Melody agreed to share their love story in real-life drama anthology #MPK or Magkailanman.
"We were asked if we wanted to share our story. Noong una, ayaw namin pero na-convince din kami in the end. Sabi nila kasi it might be inspiring for others to hear about it," Richard shares in an exclusive interview with GMANetwork.com.
They both agreed that sharing this personal side of them could be of use to other people.
"We talked about it and then we decided na it's nothing [to be secretive about] naman. Baka nga makatulong kami sa mga ibang couples who are in the same boat," he said.
Richard also hopes that he and his wife Melody inspire other people not only to fight for love but to work hard to maintain their relationships as well.
"If you really found someone that you think that's going to be the one for you, you should fight for it. You should work for it also. Kailangan gawin mo lahat ng dapat mong gawin. You have to make sure that it works also para hindi ka naman mapahiya sa pinaglalaban mo," he said.
Check out a few of the couple's sweetest photos in this gallery:
Santiago Bernabeu
Richard and Melody visited the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of Spanish football giants Real Madrid.
Words of affirmation
Richard surely has a way with words. To celebrate mother's day, Richard wrote, "Happy Mother's Day to the mother of my kids, my wife, my love, my partner, my friend and my rock who keeps me grounded and who also props me up when I am down."