Marjorie Barretto defends children from Dennis Padilla, accuses him of physical abuse

MANILA, Philippines — Marjorie Barretto has broken her silence to defend her children after her ex-partner Dennis Padilla publicly expressed disappointment over being treated like a "visitor" at the wedding of their daughter, Claudia Barretto, to longtime boyfriend Basti Lorenzo.Marjorie Barretto YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT/OGIE DIAZIn a tell-all interview with Ogie Diaz on his YouTube channel uploaded Friday night, the former actress addressed Padilla's grievances one by one while ultimately explaining what she believes is the root of the estranged relationship between her children and their father. It was also Diaz to whom Padilla gave a very detailed version on what happened to him at the wedding, following a series of posts on social media claiming he was mistreated and disrespected."Why are they estranged? For the past 10 years, Dennis has done nothing but give interviews, cry, and make himself appear pitiful to make it seem like he really misses the children — and I believe he does miss them. But the point here is, my kids are humiliated and hurt every time they are discussed in public. He might say he doesn't badmouth them, but they get bashed every time he speaks to the media," she said."So we always tell our common friends, 'Tell Dennis the sooner he stops giving interviews, the sooner reconciliation can happen.' I just want to clarify that in the 18 years we've been separated, he keeps making it look like I'm preventing him from being close to our children — that I'm brainwashing them against him. That's not true," said the former actress.Barretto, mother of Julia, Claudia, and Leon, added that after their separation, when Dennis would still visit their young children regularly, he would always speak ill of her."As God is my witness — he badmouthed me to my children. Dennis, don't ever deny this because every time you picked up the kids, you always said, 'When you grow up, I will tell you what your mom did to me.' Over and over — 'When you grow up... when you grow up... when you grow up.' All the time," she said."My children are protective of me, Ogie. What I don't understand is this: he didn't want to be a father to them. He never fought for joint custody. He never once asked to have the kids for a sleepover since they were little. [He] wanted me to be the one to send them to school, to be the one financially responsible 100 percent for 18 years, Ogie, but at the same time, [he would] badmouth me to our children? What did [he] want to happen? For them to grow up in my house and hate their mother?" she continued."But I've always been honest with my children. I'll never lie to them, so they know about my life. That's why they get irritated. They're like, 'We're adults now. What could [our mom] have done that we don't already know?' And Dennis forgets that the kids grew up in a household where we (Dennis and I) were constantly fighting. Before I left Dennis, I had already endured 14 years. The kids grew up knowing what kind of life we had as a married couple," Barretto recalled.When asked by Diaz if their fights were only verbal, Barretto answered bluntly, "He was physically abusive to me."Barretto revealed she had stayed silent for 18 years."He has a very bad temper. And I'm sure many people know this — the funny image he shows to the public is the complete opposite in private. Over the smallest things, he'd start punching or slapping [me]! My kids witnessed that," she said.Barretto revealed the worst physical abuse she suffered from Padilla was when she lost an eardrum after he hit hard in the head."He was mad at me — maybe because I complained about something — I was walking. I don't know why I'm telling you this. I've never spoken about it. I was walking into the room and from behind, he hit me so hard. Dennis is a big man. He hit me so hard in the ear that I literally flew — I couldn't dodge, and my eardrum burst," she said."Julia was just days old. To this day, I still suffer from that, Ogie. I lost my eardrum. It took years before I had surgery because of how strong the impact was. I had to undergo surgery where they recreated my eardrum using a part of my skull. And to this day, whenever my kids see me suffering from another infection or the graft failing again, they are reminded of who their father is. Dennis has a very explosive temper," Barretto noted.She shared how Padilla often says he iss tired of reaching out to his children, who continue to ignore him as their father just days after she had given birth to Julia."Why [does he say] he's so tired, Ogie? Has anyone asked my kids what effect Dennis's behavior has had on them? How could we include [him] at birthday celebrations when [he] bring[s] so much tension? Why are there so many other separated couples who can be civil? Why can't you, Dennis?," Barretto addressed her ex directly. "Why is your anger toward me so extreme? Were you a good husband to me? You're acting like I just left a kind and loving partner — no, Dennis, no! I should've left you earlier. You were cruel to me. I had to leave that relationship before you killed me."Unable to hold back her anger, Barretto continued, "When I left you 18 years ago, I took away your power over me. I suffered so much—physical abuse, financial abuse, verbal abuse. The verbal abuse was even worse than the physical. I'd take the beatings anytime over the words he used—curses so vile you don't even know where they came from."I'll take that role. I just didn't want my children to ever feel what I went through. I haven't been thinking about you, I haven't hated you all these years. I just removed your power over me."Meanwhile, in the same interview, Barretto shared that it was Claudia who initially wanted her wedding to be "very private and peaceful." Despite their years of estrangement, it was her who convinced Claudia that the right thing to do was to invite her father."Why? Because what does walking the bride down the aisle really mean? It's a father who raised you, provided for you, nurtured you, protected you, your safe space [and] you're handing over your daughter now after raising her to the man who is now going to be in charge of her. Is that correct? So why would he hand over Claudia? She doesn't even know anything about him. He doesn't even know anything about her," said Barretto.Barretto denied the accusation of Padilla that he was treated as a "visitor," saying he was "supposed to sit in the front row with the godfathers," but he chose to stay at the back."He was already being dramatic," she said, alleging that his assistant "was already documenting everything for social media."She confirmed, "I was seated at the front row where the mother and the father of the bride should be." She added, "And I will not say sorry for that. I raised my child singlehandedly. Until the last day of her single life, I was there with her, I took care of her, I did everything for my daughter, I deserved that seat in the front.""And I didn't want to be with Dennis because you're arrogant, Dennis. You're arrogant, Dennis Padilla. You were not good to me," she emphasized.The actress also shared that she chose not to walk Claudia down the aisle to avoid any potential conflict and only met her daughter halfway to follow the tradition of putting on the bride's veil.She claimed Dennis "caused a commotion" during the wedding. "He was pacing, walking and walking, complaining. Your voice was getting louder, Dennis. They had to ask you to please lower your voice, and when you could not be controlled, they told you, 'Can we take this discussion outside?'"Barretto further dismissed his claim that no one was paying attention to him at the venue. "He was warmly greeted by the family. If Dennis felt out of place, nobody made you feel like that. You were just really not part of our lives.""The guests were crying — siblings, everyone — you know, like, 'Wow, Claudia's getting married.' Why were you crying because you didn't get to walk her down the aisle? This is not about you. You should be crying because, 'Oh my God, Claudia looked so beautiful walking into the church,'" she said."You should've just given that day to the child. Let her have the happiest day of her life," Barretto pointed out.