Bela Padilla opened up about a difficult work experience earlier this year that left her unable to speak up for herself and eventually took a toll on her physical and emotional well-being.
In an interview with Korina Sanchez on ‘Rated Korina’, Padilla revealed that she found herself in an unfamiliar position: despite being known for speaking up for others, she felt she had to remain silent about something that happened at work.
“I went to a work situation early this year na I didn’t really get to speak up,” she shared. “Parang I’m most known kasi to speak up for people. Like I like talking in behalf of people who can’t speak.”
For the first time, however, Padilla said she felt that defending herself could potentially affect other people whose livelihoods were at stake.
“For the first time, something happened to me at work, and I felt like I couldn’t speak. Parang I felt like I was in a situation where if I spoke, other people would get hurt. And in my head, other people were more important, they needed jobs more than I did. So, I decided to take a step back and not talk,” she said.
Her decision to keep quiet, however, eventually affected her health.
“But doing that got me so sick, like physically sick. It was taking a toll on my body na I couldn’t sleep, I was having my dreams every day. So, ‘yun, I was in and out of the hospital for a couple of weeks,” Padilla revealed.
The actress did not identify the project, production, or individuals involved in the situation.
The experience also carried over into another period of her career as she prepared to work on ‘Life After You’, her film with Diamond Star Maricel Soriano.
Padilla admitted that she worried she would not be able to give the performance she normally expected from herself.
“Parang for the first time, I wasn’t gonna bring my A game in to work. I felt really bad, like I felt super-embarrassed to be on set. I always felt like they could see what was wrong with me or baka they could tell that I wasn’t a hundred percent,” she said.
The experience also affected her confidence on set.
“So I came in feeling small, I came in feeling inadequate. So I would always say sorry without anything happening yet. And I don’t like that feeling kasi I’m always prepared, eh, especially for work. I always bring a hundred percent to set.
“So, for someone to make me feel that small or for a situation to make me feel that small, it felt unfair, ’coz I won’t do that to other people,” she added.
Padilla also acknowledged seeing claims about herself circulating online while she was privately dealing with the situation.
“And then, I would read stuff online that were so untrue,” she said.
She nevertheless chose not to disclose further details about what happened, saying the issue was already in the past.
Padilla has recently found herself the subject of online speculation, including rumors about her alleged behavior on set and questions surrounding her friendship with Angelica Panganiban and Kim Chiu. However, she did not explicitly connect the work experience she discussed on ‘Rated Korina’ to any of these issues.
Padilla currently stars alongside Soriano in ‘Life After You’, which is now showing in cinemas.