Marjorie Barretto has reached her limit.
After years of silence and enduring what she describes as relentless public criticism and emotional sabotage from her former partner Dennis Padilla, the actress and mother of five decides to break her silence in a tell-all interview.
The sit-down unfolded in the wake of her daughter Claudia’s recent wedding that, Marjorie says, should’ve remained private and celebratory, but instead became fodder for controversy after Dennis took to social media to air out his grievances.
“He was causing a commotion. He was pacing, walking and walking, ganun, complaining,” she says of Dennis in Ogie Diaz’s YouTube vlog uploaded on April 11, 2025.
“Tumataas ang boses mo, Dennis. They had to ask you to please lower your voice.
“And when you could not be controlled, they told you, ‘Can we take this outside? Can we take this discussion outside?’”
She adds: “I know how Dennis is. Short-tempered, explosive, walang pakialam sa breeding, manners, whatever.
“Bakit ako gagawa ng mga bagay na kaiinisan mo nang sadya, kung alam ko you’re a ticking time bomb?
“Anytime, you will freak out. Bakit ko gagawin yun?”
According to Marjorie, the situation reached its peak during the ceremony itself.
While the rest of the guests were tearfully watching Claudia walk down the aisle, Dennis allegedly sulked over not being asked to escort her.
“Bakit ang iniiyak mo yung hindi ka nakalakad?” she questions. “This is not about you… Wala sa lugar ang mga iniiyak mo.”
She makes it clear: Claudia invited her father to the wedding because it was the right thing to do, but no promises were made beyond his being there.
“The bride has the right to choose who will walk her down the aisle,” Marjorie says, adding that she asked Claudia directly why she wanted her, Marjorie, to walk her halfway down the aisle.
“Because you’re my mother? Because you raised me,” she says her daughter had replied.
MARJORIE: “I RAISED HER ‘TIL THE LAST DAY OF HER SINGLE LIFE”
Marjorie unapologetically defends her seat in the front row and her role in Claudia’s life.
“I raised my child single-handedly, Dennis,” she says empathically.
“I raised her ’til the last day of her single life. I was there with her. I took care of her. I did everything for that daughter. I deserved that seat in the front.
“And I didn’t want to be with Dennis because maangas ka, Dennis. Maangas ka, Dennis Padilla.”
She also addresses accusations from Dennis’s camp, including his siblings Gene and Jennifer Baldivia, who claimed that Dennis’s mother was mistreated during the event.
Marjorie refutes these claims, saying “Mama Lina” was seated with dignity and was even assisted down the altar stairs by both her and Dennis.
“She hugged me. She kissed me. She was happy to see me. Hindi mugto ang mata niya,” Marjorie said, contradicting the claim that the elder woman cried from distress.
Marjorie insists that what happened was that Dennis made the wedding about himself.
From leaving negative posts on social media before the reception even began, to sending accusatory texts to Claudia, and to calling his children repeatedly during the event, Dennis is, by Marjorie’s description, a man obsessed with attention.
Still based on Marjorie’s narration, at 6 A.M. the morning after the wedding, Dennis sent Claudia a message: “Kaninong pakana ‘to, Claui? Ikaw ba o nanay mo?”
A clearly livid Marjorie says, “Imagine mo yun. Nate-terrorize yung mga bata.”
An angry and frustrated Marjorie insists, however, that Dennis was not excluded from his daughter’s big day.
He had photos with the bride and groom, with his own children, and even with his mother.
“Pareho lang tayo,” she says. “Walang lamangan.”
ON past trauma because of dennis padilla
Marjorie details the trauma she experienced during her relationship with Dennis, citing alleged verbal, financial, and physical abuse.
“When I left you 18 years ago, I removed your power over me. I suffered so much. Physical abuse, financial abuse. Verbal abuse was even worse to me than physical abuse,” she says.
“I will take the beating anytime. But his verbal abuse is mura na hindi mo alam kung saan nanggaling ang words and terms. I’ll take that all. Ayokong maramdaman ng mga anak ko yun.”
She goes on: “Hindi na kita iniisip. Hindi kita hini-hate all these years. I removed your power over me.
“So, yung pag pinagku-kuwentuhan mo ang isang one-hour ceremony, para na siyang telenovela.
“Pag ni-narrate ni Dennis yun, parang ang daming nangyari. Parang inapi siya mula nang dumating hanggang umalis.
“E, sinong mag-aapi sa kanya? We were all focused on the bride and the groom, listening to the homily of the priest.
“Sino ang nananakit sa yo? Kung nale-left out ka, wala ka kasi sa buhay ng mga anak mo. Mas gusto mo kasi magpa-interview, e.”
She also claims that she did not orchestrate the wedding, nor did she brainwash their children against him: “I don’t need to brainwash my children. Number one, Dennis is doing a good job hurting them. Taga-pacify ako. I help the healing.”
Marjorie also addresses how her children—Claudia and Leon—have remained publicly silent despite the years of tension.
“It’s an eerie kind of silence,” she says. “It’s a surrender kind of silence.”
Julia, in previous instances, addressed the longstanding strain in her relationship with Dennis.
Marjorie adds that it’s not just about the wedding. This has been a pattern for over a decade.
MARJORIE: “I’M SORRY I CHOSE WRONG”
Marjorie says she regrets the choice she made for her children.
“Did any of my children talk bad about their father in interviews? Never. They suffer in silence. It has an effect on their mental health,” she reveals.
She asks Dennis to stop weaponizing his age and mortality as a form of emotional blackmail.
“Alam mo, Dennis, hindi lahat ng namamatay dahil sa katandaan. God forbid, knock on wood, may mauna sa mga anak ko sa ‘yo mamatay. Will you be able to forgive yourself?
“Kasi laging yan ang pang-emotional blackmail ni Dennis, e.”
She claims that the kids’ basic gestures—sending food on Father’s Day, greeting him on his birthday—would often be answered by an angry or dismissive Dennis.
“Grabe yung mga anak ko. Over and over na lang nasasaktan,” she says.
Directing her message to her children, she says: “I’m sorry I cannot protect you from [Dennis]…
“Kasi I can protect my children from everybody. Pero hindi ko sila napoprotektahan sa tatay nila. You know the frustration I feel?
“And sometimes I apologize to my children that sana bago ko pinakasalan si Dennis—and this is my advice to my children and my advice to all the single women—when you choose your future partners, when you have boyfriends na red flag na talaga, isipin mo kung ikaw kaya mo ito, he will be the future father of your children.
“So, you choose well. You choose someone na dapat tini-treat well ka na, kasi yan ang magiging tatay ng mga anak mo.
“Kung may makita ka ng bad temper, huwag mo nang pakasalan. Kasi ang papaluin niyan, ang sisigawan niyan, ang painful words niyan, dun sa magiging anak ninyo.
“So, sometimes I really apologize to my kids kasi, sabi ko, I left the marriage. I had the luxury to leave your father. Sila they’re stuck for life.
“I’m so sorry I chose wrong. But I’ll tell you, I will love you enough. I will protect you enough. Enough for a father and a mother, and I will never forsake you. I love you all.”