Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza. Image: Instagram/@mainedcm

 

Alden Richards revealed that he had romantic feelings for actress Maine Mendoza, admitting he considers their former love team, AlDub, as his biggest romance and his biggest breakup.

The actor made this revelation during his “Fast Talk with Boy Abunda” interview on Monday, Oct. 9, wherein host Abunda asked, “Do you consider AlDub as your biggest romance? And, is it also your biggest breakup?”

AlDub is a combination of names Alden and Yaya Dub, which was Mendoza’s moniker when she started in “Eat Bulaga’s” “Kalyeserye” segment. The onscreen partnership exploded in popularity in 2015, which led to both stars working together in numerous projects and advertisements together.

“Romance, yes,” Richards answered. “Ang daming opportunities na dumating po sa buhay ko (A lot of opportunities came) because of it. I’m very grateful to Maine; I’m very grateful to ‘Eat Bulaga’ by all means, sincerely.”

“[AlDub was also] a breakup, but let’s remove the negative context of breakup in this conversation with AlDub,” he continued. “It doesn’t necessarily mean na when you’re going through a breakup, laging masama, masakit and malungkot (that it is always something bad, painful and sad). It was a breakup because Maine and I—we needed growth. We needed to venture into our individual lives to learn more and move forward.”

After Richards made mention of Mendoza’s name, Abunda asked, “Did you fall for Maine Mendoza?” to which the actor replied, “Yes po, Tito Boy. Hypocrite po ako kung hindi (I would be a hypocrite if I say no).”

“Ayoko po sabihing alam niya pero (I don’t want to speak for her and say she knew about it, but) I did confess,” the “Hello, Love, Goodbye” star added.

Richards and Abunda opted not to delve into the topic in respect to Mendoza and her marriage to actor-politician Arjo Atayde.

Richards then shed tears as he talked about his fans and acknowledged them for their continued support.

“They deserve the credit. If not for them, wala po ako sa kung nasaan po ako ngayon (I would not be where I am now),” he noted.

On past feelings for Pia Wurtzbach, Mikee Quintos’ confession

Richards admitted during the interview as well that he once had feelings for actress-beauty queen Pia Wurtzbach, but that he did not confess it to her.

“Kasi before sa ‘Eat Bulaga,’ best friends sila ni Pauleen Luna so every now and then, si Pia would go there to say hi, hello. As in nakikita ko po siyang hindi naka-glam,” he recalled.

(Pauleen and Pia are best friends so before, Pia would visit “Eat Bulaga” every now and then to say hello. I saw her [without makeup].)

“‘Yung puso niya mabuti and after she won, parang I saw her na…parang grabe. And I can attest that she has remained the same,” he spoke of Wurtzbach. (Her heart is pure and after she won [the Miss Universe pageant], it was as if I suddenly saw her [differently]. And I can attest that she has remained the same.)

Richards was also asked about his reaction to his fellow Kapuso actor Mikee Quintos’ confession of her past unrequited love for Richards.

“Siguro po parang, I don’t know—ako po kasi ang understanding ko ay in the context of friendship,” he explained. (Maybe, I don’t know—I thought it was in the context of friendship.)