Bela Padilla appeared on Tonight With Boy Abunda on Tuesday, August 6 to mark some career milestones and clarify controversial issues.
Boy Abunda first congratulated Bela for winning Best Actress in the Golden Dove Award for her performance in the MMK episode titled “Anting-Anting,” portraying Charo Abraham, who victoriously fought over an excruciating mental illness. The King of Talk also applauded her 32nd Awit Awards Best Jazz Recording nomination for the song “For The Rest of My Life,” the theme song of her movie “The Day After Valentines.”
Bela then reacted on being the second option for the lead role in the Filipino remake of the Korean box office hit “Miracle in Cell No.7” for this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival. To set the record straight, she said it is not an issue. She mentioned she is an avid fan of Korean movies and of Korean actress Park Shin-hye, who originally portrayed the role she will play in the Filipino adaptation.
In addition, Bela expressed how flattered she was about Nadine Lustre’s comments about her, as she watched Nadine’s TWBA interview the night before. She gave a message to Nadine saying that she is looking forward to having a project with the Kapamilya actress in the future, along with the assurance that she will do her best to portray the said role. Nadine was the first choice as the lead actress in the “Miracle in Cell No. 7” remake, but had to beg off from the project due to health issues.
Tito Boy then asked about the controversial dinner photos posted on Instagram, wherein she is seen sharing a table with Angelica Panganiban, Angel Locsin and Bea Alonzo. This is amidst the maelstrom involving Bea, Gerald Anderson and Julia Barretto, whose sister Dani is Bela’s best friend.
Bela began her statement stating that the pictures were taken during the after party dinner of Kapamilya trade event, which she and other ABS-CBN artists attended.
“I was pleasantly surprised that Bea arrived. Obviously, I didn’t know that it was going to be posted with that hashtag #ParaKayB. But at the same time, it doesn’t matter. If that dinner was for Bea or for anything else, it doesn’t matter because they’re all people I work with in ABS-CBN. I just feel like it’s not supposed to be a big deal,” she continued.
Regarding the insinuation of netizens that she unfollowed Julia because of the said dinner, Bela said:
“What I’m not comfortable with is the insinuation that I unfollowed Julia because of this dinner, because I did not. I actually texted (Julia’s mom) Tita Marjorie and my best friend Dani and Julia the day after because it became such a big deal! I got so many messages from Julia’s fans, which are super hateful… I just want to clarify, I didn’t unfollow Julia because I’m taking sides. I honestly don’t even know the story of what’s happening to them.”
With that, Bela revealed that she was actually doing an Instagram detoxification. “From following 4,000 people, I’m down to 2,000 plus,” she said. Bela reiterated that all is good between her and the Barrettos and friends Bea and Angel.
Finally, Bela thanked everyone for the supporting the teleserye Sino Ang Maysala? Mea Culpa, which she stars alongside Jodi Sta. Maria, as the show’s finale nears. She would then reveal interesting facts about her “guilty” co-stars in the Sino Ang Maysala game before the program ended.
Watch more of Bela’s TWBA interview in the video above.