Andre and Kobe, children of actor Benjie Paras and his ex-wife, actress Jackie Forster, recently appeared on the June 22 episode of the GMA talk show Startalk.

When the two kids, who are living with Benjie, were asked to give a message to Jackie, Andre had said, “As of now, we just want her to respect our space. ‘Yung mga ginawa po niya sa amin dati, super na-traumatized po kami and, as of now, we just want space kasi it took us a long time to move on (We were super traumatized by what she did to us in the past, and, as of now, we just want space because it took us a long time to move on.).”

PEP.ph reports that Jackie, who says she was never given a chance to see Andre and Kobe after she and Benjie separated, then used her social media accounts to express her reaction to her child’s statements.

“I have nothing more to hide. I’m just a mother yearning for my kids not a nagging druggy, child abuser,” she was quoted as saying.

“People need to stop hyping up this tragic situation because when push comes to shove and I need to protect my husband, two children and family now—I may have to reveal a little more that will devastate those people trying to ruin me. So don’t push me,” she posted.

However, in a separate article, Benjie admitted that he was also taken aback by his kids’ statements.

“Hindi ko rin ini-expect. Pero ang lagi ko lang sinasabi sa kanila na, as much as possible, try to avoid these questions (I didn’t expect that. But I would always tell them, as much as possible, try to avoid these questions.).” he said

He also said that his sons will be the ones to decide if they want to reconcile with Jackie.

May sarili silang desisyon. Dumaan na rin sila [Andre at Kobe] sa child psychiatrist… Hindi mo puwedeng pagsabihan ang mga bata, e.Kung ano ang nakita nila, nakita nila, e. Kami lang, iga-guide namin sila as much as possible sa tama. At nakikita naman na kahit papaano ay maganda naman ang pagpapalaki sa kanila (They have made their own decision.

They have already gone to a child psychiatrist… You can’t tell kids what to do. They have already seen what they saw. Our role is to guide them towards the right direction as much as possible. And we can see that we’ve been raising them well),” he said.