‘Hope’ says sorry to Kris

Monica Lewinsky would have yawned in total boredom if she watched the GMA show Startalk yesterday.

The whole gossip-hungry archipelago must have been all ears as the woman named "Hope," said to be the other woman in the widely followed real-life love triangle involving Kris Aquino and husband James Yap that has become a sensational spectator sport.

Because of "leaks" prior to the much-awaited TV confession of Hope, everybody expected the former receptionist of a popular beauty clinic to spill more juicy details than those she reportedly told Startalk co-host Lolit Solis who did the interview, complete with accounts of her (Hope’s) alleged trysts with James inside the cubicle where James had his facial and scrubs once a week ("Every Monday," said Hope).

In the off-cam interview, Hope gave the impression that she knew James so intimately that she said they even had pet nicknames for each other. She called him Big Bird; he called her Hopia.

But in yesterday’s edition of Startalk which showed only portions of Hope’s face or blurred when her whole face was shown fleetingly, Hopia disappointed the "voyeurs" by not talking any more about her alleged sexually charged encounters with Big Bird but only about how they met, how she fell for him and how they managed to carry on an a cubicle-confined affair that lasted for 11 months, starting in March last year and ending middle of last month when she was asked to resign by the beauty clinic due to "conduct unbecoming."

Other employees of the beauty clinic said that Hope was not supposed to enter any cubicle because there were two other girls, a facial lift and a scrubber, who attended to James regularly. Hope had been warned about it several times.

She has said sorry to Kris and assured Kris that she was not out to destroy Kris’ family, even if with her indiscretion she almost succeeded in doing that.

Sunday last week on her ABS-CBN show The Buzz, Kris broke her silence about the issue which began coming out as "blind items" in the tabloids a month ago. With a meek James later joining her, Kris clarified that, contrary to speculations, she wasn’t being a "sugar mommy" to James who, Kris said, regularly surrenders a good part of his fat salary from Purefoods for which he plays in the PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) games.

On the same show, Kris also admitted that James did admit having committed a "mistake" for which, according to Kris, he had already apologized. "But I haven’t forgiven him 100 percent," said Kris, looking at an obviously guilt-ridden James beside her. "I promised to do anything to prove how sorry I am," said James.

Kris ended that Buzz episode with a warning, "Nobody can destroy our family."

Kris is expecting her and James’ first child (a boy to be named James Jr.) May 6, to be delivered a week in advance (original delivery date was May 13) by Caesarian section so as not to distract the Aquino family from the election on May 14. Kris’ older brother Noynoy is running for senator. She was rushed to the Makati Medical Center last Thursday due to stress, initially mistaken for labor pains. She should have been released by now.

Some people explained James’ "playfulness" to his being young and attractive to the opposite sex. James is 25; Kris is 36. "What can you expect from a country boy thrust into the limelight in the big city?" they said. Already a star in the PBA, James (who comes from Escalante, Negros Occidental) achieved superstar status when he and Kris became sweethearts. They got married in civil rites on July 10, 2005 (their marriage license was dated June 10, 2005).

Hope, 24, described as "young and sexy," said that when she met James in March 2005, she didn’t know that he and Kris were married. The couple’s marriage was revealed in a STAR scoop only in May last year. Still, Hope said she fell for James whom she described as "malambing" (sweet), even when she wasn’t expecting "anything" from James.

"Please don’t pass judgment on me," Hope begged the televiewers. "I am only human... I am just a woman whose only fault was to be in love," adding that she decided to come out in the open to air her side and to refute accusations that she was, according to other employees interviewed by Startalk, "fatally attracted" to James. "James was not my type but I fell in love with him because he’s sweet," said Hope who keeps photos of her and James in her cellular phone. "We exchanged text messages regularly." Asked if James also love(d) her, she said, "I know that he feels something for me."

Her message to Kris?

"Hindi ako naghahabol sa asawa mo; I’m not running after your husband... I have no plan of destroying your marriage... I know where I stand... Sorry."

Asked if she’s pregnant, Hope said no.

It’s not sure yet if Kris is well enough to appear on The Buzz this afternoon.