The feud between celebrity sisters Gretchen, Marjorie, and Claudine Barretto has turned into a public quarrel, with the rest of the family being forced to take sides between Gretchen and Claudine.
The Barretto matriarch, Estrella “Inday” Barretto, was the first to side with Claudine, when she wrote a letter to the Philippine Star about Gretchen’s wrongdoings while extolling the goodness of Claudine. In response, Jay-Jay, the second of the Barretto siblings, released a statement defending Gretchen, which a third sibling, Gia, had later refuted, asking her “evil” sister Gretchen in a letter to “totally disappear” from their lives.
Jay-Jay had again come to Gretchen’s defense after Gia’s statement was released. “Her letter is so many lies,” he exclaimed in an exclusive interview with PEP.ph. “Walang utang na loob ’yang tao na ’yan (That person is very ungrateful.).”
Jay-Jay then told PEP.ph about how Gia completed her undergraduate degree in Ateneo de Manila University, finished her master’s degree in Canada, and put up a day-care center in the United States with Gretchen as her financier. When asked about what could have possibly made Gia turn so cold toward Gretchen, Jay-Jay replied that he wasn’t sure.
“Parang kelangan ni Gia ata ng $50,000 down payment, bibili ng bahay sa Boston. E, I think, may away-away [noon], kumakampi siya [Gia] siguro kina Mommy or Claudine, so Gretchen declined (I think Gia needed $50,000 to make a down payment for a house in Boston. But I think they were fighting then, and she sided with Mommy or Claudine, so Gretchen declined.).”
Gia had later sent her reply to Jay-Jay’s statements through an email sent to PEP.ph on May 2, accusing him of ruining their parents’ reputations and of being “out to do permanent damage” to the family.
“It is very easy to preach but to practice is the difficult part. You hail yourself as savior and ask people to fix or change their life but you still are at the crossroads of yours at 51. You are still not back on your feet. Others still carry yours and your son's. just an advise (cuz I am respectful of your rights to fix your own life)... ‘Try good old, normal work, J?’ Working for your keep is good for your soul. This present employment you have has no dignity in it. It's more of a trade.... You're trading your soul,” she said.
(Photo courtesy of PEP.ph)
