There’s a quote from Bruce Lee that says, mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. This absolutely rings true in the case of Joshua Garcia when he owned up to his fault, tearfully apologized for it and stressed that he learned from his mistake. Joshua appeared in Tonight With Boy Abunda (TWBA) last Tuesday.

Several days ago, the young actor became the favorite subject of netizens not because of his phenomenal acting in The Good Son but for the viral screenshot of his direct message to a girl on social media. Many believed it caused the fight between Joshua and reel/real-life girlfriend Julia Barretto that allegedly led to their breakup. The former admitted they had a misunderstanding but never did they split up.

“Kung ano kami noon. Ganun pa din kami ngayon. I just want to make it clear to all and admit what had happened,” he said, referring to the viral screenshot that created a buzz online. Joshua admitted to have sent the comment “Art photo” for @danerhea’s post on Instagram. The said girl, on the other hand, had it screen shot, posted it on her Twitter and caused it to go viral. Joshua went on to tell that he does not know her personally.

“Actually, wala lang po s’ya sa buhay ko. Nag-comment lang ako ng, ‘Art photo.’ I just complimented the picture and no conversation took place,” clarified Joshua who failed to hold back his tears, adding in between sobs, “siguro nakahanap lang ‘yung basher ko ng… hindi kasi madali ang nangyari nun dahil maraming nag-judge.”

Initially paired together in the Star Cinema box-office hit Vince and Kath and James in 2016, Joshua and Julia, collectively known as JoshLia, have openly become close to each other and, later on, rumored to officially becoming a couple. The viral screenshot issue was the first controversy that affected their relationship. Fortunately, the two have already ironed the kink in their relationship with the former telling that it wasn’t easy, yet they were able to overcome it. The reconciliation was evident in their exchange of tweet alluding to reports that they had broken up.

“We are very much okay now. I guess, I can tell now that I’m glad it happened because I learned from it — I should be careful with my action like that, for example. I just wanted to compliment but I never had the intention to flirt otherwise I would say hi or hello but I did not.”

“Of course, I regretted what happened because it angered the love of my life and I understood why she got mad,” he said. “And I apologized for it and I told her that this is just a challenge we have to beat. I didn’t know why it happened. Probably the Lord was trying to tell me something. He wanted me to learn and I heard Him.”

Joshua caught the public’s attention after displaying a brilliant performance in one of his tear-jerking moments in The Good Son, where his character Joseph’s mother had a fatal fall from the rooftop of a building. That particular scene trended online and Joshua recalled having read a post from a netizen in Singapore.

“It was such a difficult scene for me and I didn’t know how I was able to do it considering that the director had it for just one take. It was a worthy performance for me,” he said.

Among his co-actors in the drama series, Joshua finds Eula Valdes the most intimidating that he couldn’t take his nervousness away every time they have a scene together. “Natutulala na lang ako sa galing n’ya, nakakalimutan ko ‘yung lines ko.”