“No, no, no. Josh is a very good friend.”
This was what Ria Atayde told MJ Felipe when he asked if she and her good friend-slash-“Viral” co-star Joshua Garcia are already an item during her recent guesting in FYE Channel’s Pop Cinema. While their fans and avid showbiz onlookers already knew the context behind this, host Bianca Gonzalez-Intal reiterated that rumors about Ria and Joshua’s romance emerged after they were spotted hanging out together with their celebrity barkada – who are all apparently couples – in their shenanigans.
Since it wasn’t true, the 29-year-old actress revealed that they just laugh about it and playfully calls the 23-year-old actor “rumored boyfriend”.
“I’m super duper comfortable with him. Kasi nga ‘di ba, he’s my mom’s grandson in The Greatest Love. He actually celebrated Christmas with us that year and we were close. We just don’t post about each other or anything. We’re close because of that and things got busy, but we would always keep in touch throughout the years and then kasi we’re also working together for ‘Viral’. So, you know, lots of reasons to hang out and he also just recently started playing golf with the boys of my friend group [and] he’s part of it as well,” she elaborated.
Ria added that she’s already used to issues like this since people tend to link her to any of her single guy friends, such as Dominic Roque (then) and Marco Gumabao, thus, she really gets it. This made MJ tease her for explaining as if she’s at a precinct and defending herself for a crime that she allegedly did, while Bianca commended her for knowing how to handle herself well and for not avoiding any question.
Pop Cinema is a weekly roundup of the pop and trending updates in the country PLUS an online talk with surprise celebrity guests. Together with your resident Popparazis Bianca Gonzalez and MJ Felipe, don't miss an episode on FYE Channel's official Kumu account (@FYEChannel) every Saturday at 7PM! You may also binge-watch past episodes on the official YouTube channel of Cinema One.