The misdeeds of Alex Gonzaga

CEBU, Philippines —  Who knew that a simple Instagram story from Dani Barretto who attended the 35th birthday bash of Alex Gonzaga would unleash all hell for the actress and top YouTuber?

Gonzaga has been the subject of a couple of controversies in the past few years that earned the ire of netizens. Ever since the video of her smearing with icing the face of a waiter who was holding her birthday cake went viral on social media, stories about her alleged unprofessionalism started to resurface big time. A few in the entertainment and creative industries have had enough and revealed their undesirable experiences against her on social media.

The public has yet to forget Dina Bonnevie’s 2018 interview where she voiced her displeasure working with a certain young actress in a TV5 teleserye, saying she “gave her hell” for her on-set behavior.

“Your calltime is at 9 and you come down from your van at 12 na naka-pajama. Really?” she narrated in that interview without dropping a name, although many theorized that she was referring to the younger Gonzaga sister.

A resurfaced 2014 interview clip from “Gandang Gabi Vice” also shed light on Gonzaga’s alleged tardiness: Vice Ganda mentioned that the cast and crew of “The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin” had to wait for her to show up for her scenes.

“Si Richard Yap, lagi may available na oras. Ako lagi may available na oras. Hindi po kami natuloy mag-shooting dahil si Alex Gonzaga walang oras dahil busy daw,” Vice quipped.

“Yes kasi laging nanonood ng DVD sa house,” Gonzaga responded. Although the exchange was played for laughs, Deramas was shown to be visibly annoyed.

Journalist Ceej Tantengco took to Twitter to voice a similar experience of dealing with Gonzaga’s work ethic when she worked with her on a TV commercial shoot.

“All the other artistas agreed to an early call time except her, who insisted on 12 noon,” she tweeted. “We adjusted our plans and prepared to rush our shooting, thinking she had another commitment. Pala: ‘Di lang [siya] morning person.’”

John Mark Yap, a prominent figure in the creative industry, also shared his displeasure working with Gonzaga in the 2016 film “My Rebound Girl” with Joseph Marco, saying that she was “the cause of delay sa shooting [and] almost everyone on set hated her.”

Yap claimed that she was only nice to her because he was in a higher position in the film’s crew. He also shared that Gonzaga was rude to actor Reb Atadero who had a small part in the film. Atadero recalled on Twitter that when he left his bag on Gonzaga’s cot, the seemingly annoyed actress asked, “Kaninong bag ‘to?”

“She exhaled at me, followed by a weak smile,” he said when he identified himself as the owner of the bag. “That was our intro.”

Atadero’s Instagram re-post of his experience was ‘liked’ by fellow actors such as Vance Larena and Bela Padilla. Even Lea Salonga commented on the post, telling Atadero “You’ve piqued my curiosity! I know what the theater people would say to this story!”

These are just some of the many revelations making its rounds on social media about Gonzaga’s attitude behind the camera from industry peers – that even an international award-winning actress like Salonga publicly expressed her interest.

To provide more context on the viral video, the publicist of the Gonzaga family, Peter Ledesma, clarified to Fashion Pulis on Tuesday that the waiter named “Allan” is actually a friend of her mother, Pinty, and that the younger Gonzaga wouldn’t have behaved that way if he wasn’t acquainted with the family.

Whether this connection with the waiter is real or not (the waiter himself hasn’t said anything as of writing), the public has already made up its mind about the “Tropang LOL” host. It doesn’t help that her industry peers have fueled the legitimacy of the years-long rumors about her off-cam conduct.

In an episode of her podcast titled “Ano Na Catherine,” Gonzaga admitted that she gets hurt by criticisms, describing herself as a weak person. “‘Pag may sinabi sa ‘yo or may ginawa sa ‘yo yung isang tao, parang apektado ka pero ayaw mong maging ganoong klaseng tao, ayaw mong masabihang ‘Mahina ‘yan eh’”, she said.

Going by her statement, this recent controversy will definitely hurt Gonzaga’s ego. But she should not see herself as a victim this time. She is clearly not.

If Gonzaga wants to become a genuinely stronger person in the face of backlash, she needs to hold herself accountable over the waiter incident, start changing her work ethic and be respectful to her peers both on and off camera, whether they are A-listers, bit players, crew members, service workers, or directors.

At 35 years old, it’s not too late to change. But if she keeps this kind of alleged attitude, she will eventually lose more respect from her bigger peers in the industry and this will affect her career. No one wants to work with an actress who has an attitude problem and who is still in her pajamas in an already-delayed shoot.