Marian Rivera finally breaks silence on persisting 'padlock' rumor, explains why she chose not to address it before
Marian Rivera has finally addressed a longtime rumor that she once padlocked a fellow actress in a restroom out of anger.
On Sunday's episode of Gandang Gabi Vice, host Vice Ganda brought up the rumor with guest Rivera.
"Did it really happen?" she asked Rivera.
"'Yung totoo? Alam mo, okay ako," Rivera replied.
Without giving out names, Rivera said the actress supposedly involved in the incident even appeared as a guest in her self-titled variety show Marian, which aired 25 episodes in 2014.
"Noon pa man, way way back na, at hindi ko makakalimutan, nag-guest kasi siya sa Marian show," Rivera recalled.
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"Pumunta siya. Nagkita kaming dalawa. Nag-sorry siya sa akin. So from there, alam niya na may mga nangyari na hindi naman talagang nangyari," the actress continued.
Rivera said she never saw the need to explain the incident on social media because regardless of what she said, people would have had a version of the rumor already stuck in their minds.
"Ang mahalaga, kaming dalawa 'pag nagkikita kami, okay na kami. At ako, para sa 'kin, napatawad ko na siya," Rivera said.
"Pero kung ang tanong mo ay nangyari ba talaga, hindi," she said, adding it would have been impossible to lock someone in a restroom since the stalls lock on the inside.
"So the padlock thing never happened?" Vice Ganda clarified.
"Never," Rivera confirmed.
"Pero alam mo, Vice, 'yun 'yung pinakamaganda diyan. After all, lahat ng speculation, kung ano ang gusto nilang isipin, ang mahalaga, kami nu'ng tao, maayos kami. Okay na 'ko doon," Rivera said.
The alleged incident
According to PEP, the padlock rumor was just one of several incidents that allegedly stemmed from the taping of the 2010 TV series Endless Love, an adaptation of the 2000 K-Drama Autumn in My Heart. Endless Love, which ran for 80 episodes, starred Rivera, her then-boyfriend and perennial love-team partner Dingdong Dantes, and Bela Padilla.
Dantes and Rivera got married in 2014.
In an interview with PEP in 2010, Padilla's then-manager Claire Dela Fuente claimed Rivera harassed Padilla on the Endless Love set out of intense jealousy. According to Dela Fuente, the padlock incident happened during an out-of-town taping where she alleged Rivera locked up Padilla in a restroom after Padilla and Dantes filmed a love scene.
Dela Fuente claimed that Rivera asked everyone in the restroom with Padilla to leave, locked the door, and proceeded to point her finger in Padilla's face while insulting her, saying Dantes was always disgusted whenever he had scenes with Padilla.
Allegedly, Rivera also bullied and threatened Padilla on set on several occasions.
In an interview with the media following the rumors, Padilla said that while she and Rivera are not friends, the incidents being circulated were not true.
The rumors supposedly prompted GMA executives to hold a closed-door meeting with Rivera and Padilla. During the meeting, the actresses apparently made peace and agreed not to address the issue.
This did not stop Dantes from giving an official statement in September 2010 to defend Rivera.
"I am saddened by the false accusations and allegations hurled towards Marian, which I feel are unfair and were totally blown out of proportion. I am saying this because I know the truth," Dantes wrote in a text message to the media.
"Whatever happened in the past happened between two adults, and I believe that this was already resolved," he continued.
"As someone who believes in Marian's character and loves her dearly, wholeheartedly, without boundaries, in this life or in the next, I would like the readers/public/spectators to know that I will be behind her, beside her, and even in front of her in fulfilling her dreams and aspirations," he added.
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