Jennylyn Mercado

Jennylyn Anne Pineda Mercado also known as Jennylyn Mercado (born May 15, 1987 in Las Piñas City, Metro Manila, Philippines) is a Filipina actress and singer. She was the winner of the first season of StarStruck, a reality-based talent search show of GMA Network in the Philippines.

Personal background:
Family
In May 4, 1991, when she was nearly four years old, she made headlines as a battered child. The assailant was her stepfather, who burned her skin with cigarette butts and put a flat iron on her back. Her mother, who was then working in Dubai as a domestic helper, immediately came home not to rescue her daughter, but to bail out her partner, who was in detention. Her life story was featured in the TV drama series Magpakailanman on October 14, 2004. Jennylyn is now the official spokesperson of the Bata Foundation (Christian Mission Services), a non-governmental organization. Her mother migrated to London and had her own family. Mercado's aunt, Lydia Mercado then became her legal guardian.

When her biological father, Noli Pineda, now 50, came home from Korea, reports came out saying that he was asking for money from his now self-sufficient daughter (an accusation she has strongly denied, insisting that her father wanted her to use his surname Pineda). She and her biological father, who is based in Korea still keep in touch.

Mercado studied at Augustinian Abbey in Las Piñas from Prep to 4th year High School. On the April 3, 2004 episode of Startalk, a Philippines-based talk show, Jennylyn admitted that she suffers from a heart ailment which prohibits her from becoming too tired, overly excited, or angry.

She is the former girlfriend of co-StarStruck survivor Mark Herras. She is currently a few months pregnant with a love child by ex-boyfriend Patrick Garcia, who has reportedly distanced himself upon learning of the pregnancy.