Love Thy Woman


Love Thy Woman is a 2020 Philippine drama television series starring an ensemble cast. The series premiered on ABS-CBN's Kapamilya Gold afternoon block and worldwide via The Filipino Channel on February 10, 2020, replacing Kadenang Ginto.

Premise

Dana Wong-Chao and Jia Wong are Chinoy half-sisters and daughters of Tai-pan billionaire Adam Wong with two different women - Lucy Lee Wong, Adam's wife, and Kai Estrella, Adam's mistress.
Both Wong daughters are beautiful, charming and intelligent, groomed to lead and head Dragon Empire Builders, a multi-million real estate family business established by their father Adam Wong.
Adam acknowledges his relationship with Kai and his daughter Jia, who form part of the Wong immediate family, attending all family and social events. His wife, Lucy, is not happy about this but swallows her resentment and accepts their constant presence in their lives.
Lucy belongs to a wealthy family from Singapore, her Filipino mother was one of her father's wives. Her mother leaves and Lucy is raised by her father who hates and mistrusts Filipinos. So when Lucy falls in love with a Filipino, her father disowns and curses her.
Lucy never sees her family again. After Adam's indiscretion with Kai, Lucy sees it as the beginning of her father's curse. Forced to accept her husband's mistress, the two families coexist under Adam's care. Being a Tai-pan, society accepts Kai as Adam's consort with a place in the social structure.
Although there is an obvious disdain between Lucy and Kai, their two daughters grow up close, with distinct personalities, but close nevertheless.
Jia Wong is an interior designer from the University of the Philippines. Dana finishes Architecture from the University of California in Berkeley where she falls in love with David Chao.
Dana gets pregnant and plans to get married. As part of a pre-wedding ritual, the families have the couple's fortune read. The seer warns them of the curse and urges them to stop the wedding. Despite Lucy's apprehensions, Adam does not believe in the curse and the wedding follows. The "Wedding of the Year" that begins like a fairy tale, ends in a tragic car accident, leaving Dana in a deep coma.
Medical experts from different countries step in with modern treatments but nobody can induce Dana out of her comatose state. The Wongs and the Chaos watch over Dana for over a year. Lucy believes that the curse is at work.
It was during this emotional time that Jia and David's shared grief of possibly losing Dana, blossoms into an illicit affair which results in chaos within the family. Harsh condemnation by Adam and Lucy and Jia's regret over betraying her sister, drive Kai and Jia to leave the Wong's to start a new life on their own in Singapore. Jia discovers she is pregnant with David's son and finds success as a furniture designer, opening a furniture store with her boss, Richie Tan. But despite her success, the curse follows her as she suffers from breast cancer and loses her son.
Meanwhile, in Manila, Dana comes out of her coma. As she regains back her strength, she is curious about what happened during the 18 months she was asleep. No one can give her a straight answer on why Jia and Kai left. Not believing that her father banished Jia for venturing out on her own, Dana becomes suspicious of David having an affair and that Jia's disappearance is related to David's emotional distance.
While David tries to make up for his indiscretion by sticking to their marriage, Dana's obsession to get the truth drives her to maltreat David. He considers filing for an annulment. Adam and Lucy are happy about this because they have not forgiven David for his betrayal of Dana.
Amidst the turmoil in their marriage, it is revealed that Jia's son did not die, and was instead, kidnapped by Kai's brother Harry and given to Lucy. The exchange was for money for Jia's cancer treatment, and unbeknownst to everyone except Lucy, the infant is left outside the Wong's gate and adopted by David and Dana.
In Singapore, Jia recovers from her illness and together with Richie, opens RJ&E Design, a furniture manufacturing and design establishment that becomes the most sought out furniture designer and manufacturing firm in Asia.
In Manila, Dana is promoted as CEO of Dragon Empire Builders. Motivated to expand and increase their sales, Dana is set on a brand alliance with RJ&E. After several attempts for a meeting to submit a proposal, Lucy and Dana fly to Singapore and discover that Jia is the owner. Jia turns down their proposal. After advising Adam of their unsuccessful proposal, Adam makes some inquiries and discovers Jia is the owner. He flies to Singapore and they have a happy reunion. Flushed with emotions after being separated for a decade, he convinces Jia to return to Manila with the promise to protect her from Lucy and Dana. Jia admits her indiscretion to Dana, hoping to be free of the curse.
From keeping the Chinese tradition and Filipino values alive to keeping up with the changing times, Love Thy Woman, a family saga spanning two generations, explores love's dark side and the duplicitous polarity of Betrayal. A family's journey to heal the mistakes and wounds of the past.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Casting

was originally cast to play the role of Dana Wong, but she backed out because of creative differences. Yam Concepcion took over the role.

Broadcast

The series airs on ABS-CBN's Kapamilya Gold afternoon block and worldwide on The Filipino Channel.
Despite the community quarantines already lingering, Love Thy Woman continued airing 5 of its fresh, new episodes from March 16–20, 2020.
However, in response to the community quarantine caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, the show temporarily stopped filming new episodes and was temporarily replaced by reruns of Walang Hanggan, The Legal Wife, and Got to Believe beginning March 23, 2020.
Prior to the show being put on hiatus, series star Christopher de Leon tested positive for COVID-19. This caused select members of the cast to place themselves in self-quarantine.
Thereafter, the show's future would be placed in doubt after the temporary closure of ABS-CBN following the cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission on account of its franchise expiration. However, on June 4, 2020, it was announced that the show would make its return on June 15, 2020 on cable-and-satellite channel Kapamilya Channel.

Ratings