MANILA, Philippines — Businessman Atong Ang was firm that actresses Gretchen and Claudine Barretto are just his “friends.”
But when asked by Noli de Castro about his relationship with Gretchen and Claudine’s niece, Nicole, during an interview with “TV Patrol” on Thursday, Ang refused to comment.
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According to Ang, he does not want to talk about Nicole because both he and Nicole already have their respective families.
“Pero wala akong masasabi sa pamilya niyan. Ayos ‘yan. Kung anuman ‘yung pinagsamahan namin ni Marichi, nila Nicole, sa akin na lang ‘yon. May kanya-kanya tayong buhay, so bakit natin kailangan i-expose ang buhay natin?” Ang told Noli.
It can be recalled that in an interview with Karen Davila on “TV Patrol” last Tuesday, actress Marjorie Barretto alleged that her niece was Ang’s “girlfriend of almost five years” and that Gretchen allegedly "stole" Ang from Nicole.
Marjorie said in the interview that tension began at their father’s wake last week when Ang allegedly called one of his children to call Nicole, the daughter of Gretchen and Marjorie’s brother JJ, to ask her and her cousins to leave since Atong and Gretchen were to drop by the wake.
This hurt Nicole, said Marjorie, more so when Nicole was allegedly “beat” and “kicked” by Gretchen at the wake.
According to an ABS-CBN News report, Ang sent a statement to Kapamilya reporter Henry Omaga-Diaz to break his silence on how he was associated with some of the Barretto family.
"Tungkol kay Nicole, mga four to 11 years ago ay nagkakasama kami nang mommy niya. Kung ano man ang relationship namin, walang kinalaman si Gretchen,” Atong said.
"Si Nicole, pinag-aral ko 'yan, ang nagtrabaho sa akin 'yung nanay niya. Si Gretchen malapit siya sa asawa ko," he added.
"Kung nagkahiwalay kami nila Nicole walang kinalaman si Gretchen. Ang relasyon namin ni Nicole, parang taga asikaso ng mga flights ko and schedule ko noon.”
In the interview with Davila, Marjorie denied that Nicole was just Ang’s “secretary.”
"'Wag naman niyang babuyin 'yung bata. Nakuha na nga niya nang bata si Nicole nu'n. They had a five-year relationship? She was not even, I think, 18. Nababoy na nga eh, nasira na nga reputation ng bata, ide-deny mo pa. Gagawin mong sekretarya mo na lang," Marjorie said.
According to her, Ang’s relationship with Nicole was precisely the reason why he is close to their family.
Last Monday, Ang told GMA in an interview that one can only call someone a “girlfriend” if something happened between them.
“Masasabi mo lang na girlfriend kapag nakapatong ka na d’yan,” Ang was quoted by GMA as saying.
“E bakit ko naman aaminin na ganun e wala naming ganun. Me nakakita ba?”
He added that he “totally denies” his alleged relationship with Nicole especially since he is happy with his own family.
“Totally, dine-deny ko lang talaga ‘yan!” he declared.