On June 14, the 100th episode of Fast Talk with Boy Abunda aired, featuring renowned actress Judy Ann Santos as a special guest.
During the interview, Abunda inquired about Santos’ thoughts on her ex-rival Claudine Barretto’s appearance on the show.
Barretto revealed that despite their publicized rivalry, she and Santos actually developed a close friendship behind the scenes. Barretto explained that their on-screen rivalry was orchestrated to emulate the iconic Nora-Vilma rivalry, which required them to maintain a distance from each other in public.
“It’s just that during that time kung baga para kaming mag-boyfriend-girlfriend ni Judy Ann, bawal kaming magkita sa labas kasi ayaw ni Tito Alfie kasi dapat daw ala-Nora-Vilma,” Barretto said in the interview.
The actress also mentioned that she will always be grateful for Santos for including her in the title, “Queen of Teleserye”.
She said, “I will never forget what Judy Ann did for me, that’s why she is who she is. You know at my lowest point, in one of her interviews, they said that she was the teleserye queen but she said, ‘No, Claudine and I share this title,’ I will never forget that Boy ’til the day I die.”
Santos responded to this in her interview on the show by affirming that she was “touched” on Barretto’s statements during the interview.
“Na-teary eyed ako ng slight. Tama si Claudine eh, we never really had a chance to be close nu’ng mga bata pa kami because Star Magic siya, and I have Tito Alfie with me, palagi kaming nakatapat sa isa’t isa,” Santos said in her interview with Abunda.
Santos added that the healthy competition between her and Barretto made positive improvements on her.
She said, “I guess that’s a very healthy competition back then and ako naniniwala ako hanggang ngayon, there’s always a need for you to have a competition para alam mo kung saan mo pa puwedeng itaas ‘yung sarili mo, kung saan ka pa puwedeng mag-improve.”
The actress was then asked if she would be willing to be in a project with her ex-rival in which she answered with “A project with Claudine, of course, why not? hindi lang naman sa dahil hinihingi ng mga tao, but I think it would be a very interesting project.”
Santos expressed that the current peaceful times presented a “perfect moment” for her to collaborate with Barretto on a project.
During Santos’ interview with Abunda, she also mentioned her openness to working on a project under GMA Network.
The rivalry between Santos and Barretto began during their time at ABS-CBN, where they were frequently compared to each other. Santos gained recognition for her expressive eyes, often drawing comparisons to Nora Aunor, while Barretto was hailed as the successor to Vilma Santos, primarily due to her impressive line deliveries.
In the past, Santos had the opportunity to work with Aunor in the film “Babae” (1997), while Barretto portrayed Vilma Santos’ daughter in “Anak” (2000). These collaborations further fueled public perception of them as rivals.
However, their rivalry gradually diminished after Barretto switched networks in 2009.
