Andrea Brillantes on It’s Showtime. Screengrab from YouTube
While Andrea Brillantes remained mum on her split with basketball player Ricci Rivero, the actress appeared to take a jab at her ex-boyfriend during the Independence Day episode of the noontime show “It’s Showtime.”
Brillantes was a guest at the Kapamilya noontime show as she performed while in drags for her new series, Drag You & Me for her opening number.
After her performance, the actress was greeted by “It’s Showtime” host Vice Ganda. “Happy Independence Day at napakalaya mong mag drag today.” The comedian then held her hand and looked at her meaningfully before saying, “Happy Independence Day!”
“I know! Happy Independence Day to me and to all of us!” Brillantes said, which made Vice Ganda laugh in response.
“Malaya na tayo sa mga nega, wala tayo sa sakit,” said Vice Ganda, to which Brillantes responded: “Ako na ‘to.”
One of the hosts said that Brillantes brought gifts to the crowd. Brillantes then said, “Ganun po ako magmahal e,” prompting the hosts and the crowd to laugh boisterously, before saying her gift was about her new show.
In one of the segments, Vice Ganda asked her if she were to catch a ball, who would she pass it on to, to which Brillantes said, “Bola, what’s that? Ayoko na!”
Rivero earlier confirmed his separation from Brillantes in a lengthy tweet last June 9, where he asked his followers to “respect [their] decision” to keep their split private.
“I own up to the mistake of not making my relationship status public because I felt there’s no need to add up to what we’re going through. Please respect our decision to keep it to ourselves so that we can preserve what’s left of our friendship,” his tweet said.
Dragged into their split was beauty queen-turned-politician Leren Mae Bautista who had been seen with Rivero prior to the breakup. She was seen in Rivero’s now-deleted Instagram Story last weekend, and they were spotted at a community event last May 25, where they were giving away food packs.
However, in a statement, the Los Baños councilor denied any romantic involvement with the basketball player, saying her previous sighting with Rivero was merely an “outreach activity.” EDV