Anne Curtis asserts ‘I can buy you’ remark not true, but says: ‘I’m gonna own it’

Anne Curtis spoke up for the first time about the infamous “I can buy you” remark attributed to her, clarifying that she did not actually say it but that she decided to just own the “iconic” line.

It can be recalled that back in 2013 Curtis made headlines after she allegedly caused a commotion at a bar while she was drunk, supposedly slapping several individuals including fellow actor John Lloyd Cruz. Curtis was also rumored to have screamed at Phoemela Baranda, who was also at the club along with the actor and several other companions.

“I can buy you, your friends, and this club!” Curtis allegedly told Baranda at the time, as per reports.

Baranda, however, had denied that the actress-TV host addressed such a statement to her. Cruz, for his part, did not comment on the matter.

Curtis finally opened up about the incident during her guesting at the “Ang Walang Kwentang Podcast” on Monday, Feb. 9. The topic was brought up when Curtis and podcast hosts, filmmakers Antoinette Jadaone and JP Habac, were talking about how the actress and her husband Erwan Heussaff met.

“Do’n ko siya na-meet (That’s where I met him) — in the most romantic place, a club,” Curtis recalled, to which Habac quipped, “Do’n mo ba nasabi ang ‘I can buy you’?” (Is that where you uttered the “I can buy you” remark?)

This prompted Curtis to delve into the much-talked about issue then.

“Ito ngayon ko lang sasabihin. Kasi sabi ko [sa mga friends ko], ‘Sinabi ko ba talaga ‘yon? So that I can own up to it kung sinabi ko.’ Sabi [nila], ‘No, you didn’t say it,'” Curtis narrated.

(This is the first time I’m saying this. I asked my friends if I actually said that, so that I can own up to it. They told me, “No, you didn’t say it.”)

While she was shocked upon knowing that there is no truth to the claims against her, Curtis noted, “But you know what, it’s so iconic now, I’m gonna own it.”

Curtis even gamely delivered the remark with hand gestures during the podcast, as requested by the hosts.

The actress-TV host nonetheless admitted that she was greatly affected back then by the issue that she avoided social media for two months because of her anxiety.

Curtis then credited her “core group” for helping her overcome the matter, saying she just now shrugs it off whenever some would suggest that she is supposedly “back in her ‘I can buy you’ era.”

“Because I know the truth naman, so I’m not bothered,” she said.

Explaining why she did not issue a denial at the time, Curtis stated, “Parang at that point, anything I would have said parang it wouldn’t have mattered.”

“Maraming nangyari nung gabing ‘yon na hindi ko na lang sinabi kasi parang it makes no point. Bakit pa ako maglalaglag ng tao? Okay na ‘yon kasi tingnan mo, ni-bless ako ni Lord ng bonggang-bongga sa nangyari,” she added.

(A lot of things happened that night but I did not speak about it because I felt like it would make no sense. What reason do I have to name names? I decided to just let it go because look at what happened — I was blessed by God after the issue.)

While Curtis did not expound on the incident back in 2013, she had issued an apology to the parties involved and admitted she had “one too many drinks.” /ra