Why did she have to air the family’s dirty linen in public?
Inday Barretto knew that people would be asking this question after her letter was published in Ricky Lo’s column last April 24.
But she went ahead anyway because she had to “put things in order.”
In an exclusive interview with PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) yesterday, April 28, the Barretto matriarch said to PEP managing editor Karen Pagsolingan: “I don’t really intend to make this a world war. This is not North Korea or South Korea.
“This is just between a mother and a daughter.
“And what brought it up naman are these things in Instagram and Facebook, kasi technology idiot naman ako.
“But things are getting out of hand kasi, nagkaka-volleyball na ‘yong magkakapatid—she said this, she said that, you know, di ba?
“Lahat naman silang magkapatid has an issue against her [Gretchen]. Anong klase akong nanay na ang mga anak ko, nagkakagulo, and I don’t do anything about it?
“Ako ang neutralizer.
“I have to come in the picture kasi hindi ‘yon… it’s not anymore an issue between Claudine and Gretchen and Marjorie.”
The three girls are her more famous children: Claudine (33, seventh child in a brood of seven), Marjorie (38, sixth child), and Gretchen (43, fifth child). All three are in the world of entertainment, as actresses, hosts, and celebrity endorsers; while one of them, Marjorie, is also now in the world of politics, as reelectionist councilor of Caloocan City.
Currently, there is a word war going on among them. In one corner, there is Claudine; on the other, Marjorie and Gretchen. With the publication of Inday’s letter in The Philippine Star on April 24, the Barretto matriarch squarely placed her bets on Claudine.
Since then, Joaquin “Jay-Jay” Barretto (third child) has sent his own letter to the media, essentially declaring that he’s on the side of Gretchen. Meantime, Gia Barretto-Reyes (fourth child), who is based in Boston, U.S.A., has also sent her own letter to the media, in effect announcing that she’s on the side of Claudine.
It didn’t help that old issues plaguing the Barrettos—such as Gretchen being breadwinner of the family at age of 14— have resurfaced.
This issue has always infuriated Inday, who told PEP, in a tone that is somber but surprisingly unagitated: “As I said and I kept on repeating, hindi naman maganda na parang napakamangmang naman namin.
“People naman also know us better, di ba?
“So there’s no need to refute that, it has been talked about behind our back.
“Then, maski hindi totoo, masakit. So once and for all, sabi ko, ‘Aba, teka muna. Let’s put things in place already!’”
MOTHER VERSUS DAUGHTER. The Barretto matriarch revealed that going before the media to expose her family’s woes wasn’t an easy decision.
“Hindi naman madali ‘yon para sa mother, to talk against sa daughter.
“But it’s bad naman for the daughter to talk about the mother and the father and her family.
“Saan ka naman nakakita, anak aawayin ‘yong nanay? Saan? The more she does that, the more it will provoke me to correct.”
The 76-year-old Inday said that her family now consists of seven children, 19 grandchildren, and four great grandchildren—and that they have many regular and happy bonding moments.
Picking up a more upbeat tone, “Itong mga anak ko na may wives [and] husbands, we go on family lunch, we eat together, we pray together, we go on picnic.
“We have always been like that.
“If you want, I can give you pictures of my family, because pictures do not lie.
“We have birthdays and Christmases and New Years and Valentine’s.
“We had that golden wedding anniversary—it was bongga! One of the beautiful [and] talked about, not because it was mahal, but because it was full of sentiments.
“All these things, we have always been like that.
“We go to expensive and not expensive places. We go to Hong Kong. All of us!
“We have Sundays, go to resorts with our children in Liliw, Laguna. Hindi naman bongga ‘yon, ang saya-saya namin.”
The equilibrium, she said, gets upset only every time one particular child shows up. Inday Barretto never once mentioned the child’s name during the interview, but it was clear she was referring to Gretchen.
Gretchen is possibly the most well-known child of Inday and Miguel Barretto, not only because she started as a celebrity endorser at age 12 and as an actress and host in show business at age 14, and not just because she has in the past years revived her acting career in ABS-CBN teleseryes, the most famous of which is Magkaribal, and the most recent of which is Princess and I.
Gretchen’s fame has more wattage because she straddles both the showbiz and society scenes as the 19-year partner of one of the wealthiest individuals in the country, Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco, Jr., with whom she has an 18-year-old daughter, Dominique.
Inday and Gretchen seem to have decades-long issues between them.
Inday narrated, her voice still on a strangely even keel, “When she comes in the picture, nag-aaway. O, see, masama na naman ako, sinasabi ko ‘yan! Pero that’s the truth.
“Every time she comes back, may nag-aaway, pinapaaway niya lahat!
“For the longest time, pinapabayaan ko na.”
WHAT WAS THE TRIGGER? In previous write-ups, Marjorie’s daughter, Julia, is said to be the reason for the present rift among the Barretto sisters Marjorie, Gretchen, and Claudine.
First, the bashing on Instagram, where account user @btchjuliaisbitch warned that “she will ruin Julia because she claims she is the teleserye princess & will remain that way till the end of eternity,” said Gretchen in a post dated April 13.
Although @btchjuliaisbitch has since deleted that post, Gretchen’s @gretchenbarretto exposed it.
In the April 25 PEP interview with Joaquin “Jay-Jay” Barretto, the third child of Inday and Miguel—the subject of Julia was brought up. Jay-Jay said that Claudine felt strongly against her niece entering ABS-CBN, while Gretchen encouraged the 17-year-old Star Magic talent.
The reason, ostensibly, was that Claudine believed that the Kapamilya network—which included the television station ABS-CBN, the talent-management arm Star Magic, and the film arm Star Cinema, among others—was trying to “get back at” her and “ruin” her through Julia.
The backstory to this is supposed to be that Claudine, once the prized talent in all three of these Kapamilya divisions, still wants to regain her throne there. And that the presence of Julia, who has the luminous beauty for which the Barrettos are famous, was going to make that an impossibility.
Inday threw a fit at this.
“That was getting out of hand!
“But, I didn’t come at the picture because of that, and it’s not even true na ‘yong entering ni Julia sa showbiz? Julia just started, what, just a month ago?”
(Julia Barretto started six years ago with ABS-CBN, but took centerstage only this year, when she was launched as part of Star Magic 2013.
In 2007, when she began, Julia appeared in Walang Kapalit, a teleserye starring her aunt Claudine. Julia played the young Claudine.)
“There’s something more than that, but I don’t want to talk about it,” the Barretto matriarch said, leaving her point hanging.
She dismissed the Julia issue as a “silly fight,” and said it was not “my only reason.”
“TELESERYE QUEEN VS ST QUEEN.” Why did she compare her daughters Gretchen and Claudine before the public? And why did she call Gretchen an ST (Sex Trip) Queen also before the public?
“Okay, I made a statement. If you read it again, it’s been there, it’s everything na answer sa Facebook na sinabi ni Claudine na she [Julia] will be Teleserye Princess, tignan mo.
“Kahit binibigyan siya [Claudine] ng [title na] Princess, ng Queen, o kung ano, she never [flaunted it] because Claudine is just there for the job. Wala siyang burloloy-burloloy.
“Siguro, nagkamali ako do’n nang sinabi ko na she [Claudine], kahit totoo naman during her time, na she’s not [just] a Teleserye Princess, she’s a Teleserye Queen during her time.”
Inday put emphasis on the last three words.
The feisty Ilongga added, “Hindi na ngayon, sobra naman ‘yon. Hindi na ngayon, kaya medyo out of bounds ‘yon.”
What about the ST Queen tag for Gretchen?
There was a very brief pause, then Inday replied: “Siguro, naiinis na ako. Galit na ako, nasabi ko ’yon.
“E, of course masakit, pero masakit din sa akin ‘yon.
“Nasabi ko na e, what can I do?”
Searching for a reason for calling Gretchen an ST Queen, Inday said, “Maybe God wants them [Gretchen and Marjorie] to know how it feels like kapag nananakit ka ng tao, kapag ikaw ang binuweltahan. Masakit, di ba?
“Anyway, hindi naman ako religious na nagsisimba araw-araw, pero I believe in God. Kasi ‘pinagdasal namin ng asawa ko ‘yan, e. Kasi, away sila nang away, e.”
DISOWN GRETCHEN? We asked about Tania Montenegro’s perception, based on Inday’s open letter of April 24, that she, as a mother, has “disowned” Gretchen.
Inday was quick to say, “Ano’ng pinagsasabi ng Tania na ’yan? Does she read or what? Wala akong sinabi...
“Ang sinabi ko lang, ‘I am now letting go of a child who never wanted me.’
“Kasi gusto talaga nilang i-ano si Claudine, e, dine-distract nila.
“Gusto nilang palabasin na sira ang ulo, nagwawala, gano’n, gano’n.
“Sabi ko, ‘To save a child who has always been there for us, for all, and with all of her love…’ Ang daming naiyak no’n, especially the ones who know what Claudine has been through with.
“Hindi ko sinabi na ‘itinakwil,’ it is different from ‘letting go.’
“Siya [Gretchen] naman ang lumayo sa amin e, di ba? Sa letter ni Gia, ‘I understand that you don’t want to be part of our family.’
“So wala, siya ang nagtatakwil.”
ENDING THE WORD WAR? When asked if she was open to reconciling with Gretchen and Jay-Jay, Inday initially answered “oo,” before qualifying: “But you see, there wasn’t a lot coming from me. Iyon lang—ST queen. There wasn’t a lot coming from me.
“If you read again what Gia says about it, it was nothing derogatory to her [Gretchen], except na all this time, ayaw [ni Gretchen] sa amin.
“‘Yon lang, walang nakakasira, ‘yong ST lang.
“Kasi alam mo, ‘yong ST Queen, nakakasira talaga. Ibig sabihin no’n, ang sama naman [ng] ginawa ‘yan.”
(In a separate PEP interview, on April 27, with Robbie Tan, the Seiko Films producer that hired Gretchen for his ST films, Robbie detailed what “ST” was and what Gretchen did in his ST films.
He told PEP Guide section editor Jocelyn Dimaculangan: “Yung ST Queen na tag, pang-marketing lang. Hindi naman talaga siya [Gretchen] nag-bold. Nagpakita lang siya ng likod, nagpapakita ng puwet, pero wala!
“Never naman siya nag-frontal nudity! In fact, wala nga siyang breast exposure.”
Again, Inday said, “It’s out of my anger e, nasulat ko lang.
“Siguro God’s will din para malaman niya [Gretchen] na hindi ka puwede apak lang nang apak sa tao. Masakit din pala kapag ikaw na inatake.”
Does she have a message for Gretchen?
“I don’t want to address this to her because, like I said, I don’t intend to prolong this war and make a Third World War with this thing.
“But ang comment ko, generally speaking, the trouble with lying, if you are to quote me, is you have to tell more lies to support it.
“And if your character is not credible, you will have, sadly, you will have to turn to people, [na] bayaran.
“Ewan ko kung anong [ibig] sabihin niyan [bayaran] sa ‘yo, but I’m not addressing it to anyone.”
Ultimately, she gave her reason for releasing her letter to the press. It was, she said, so that she could rest easy at the thought that she, as a mother, has set everything straight.
“You know, you asked me what made me come out? Because, I swear—before I close my eyes, I have to put things in order para naman I can rest in peace.”