They weren’t that close but BB Gandanghari maintained brother Royette Padilla, who succumbed to heart attack recently, was quite protective of him.
In her most recent vlog, BB recalled how Royette defended his then alter ego Rustom Padilla from being tagged as gay.
She said, “Nung nagkaroon din ako ng problema nung panahon na gini-gay issue-gay issue si Rustom, sino din ang rumesbak? Sino ang rumesbak? Si Kuya Royette din.”
The same thing happened she said when Robin Padilla had a misunderstanding with TV anchor Noli de Castro.
According to BB, Royette went out of his way to confront Noli, challenging him to a fist fight.
She said, “Hindi ko alam if he would take this as something na mangingiti siya o mababatukan niya ako.
“Pero kung idi-describe kasi yung mga panahon na yun, during the ‘90s, when we were doing our own thing as actors, kami nila Robin, parang nagkaroon ng reputation si Kuya Royette na parang bilang ‘notorious.’
“Yes, people know him in a notorious way. (But) looking back, I can only attribute it to him being so protective of us.”
BB lamented how he wasn’t able to talk to Royette before he passed away.
Speaking as if she is talking directly to Royette, she said, “Di mo naitatanong, I wanted to talk to you before Christmas… I thought kagaya ko dito na mag-isa, baka kailangan mo lang ng kausap, kakuwentuhan, katawanan.
“Siguro ‘yon yung regret ko ngayon.
“Sana nabigyan lang ng pagkakataon na we can talk about things other than problems, other than what’s yung mga hinagpis na dala-dala natin… Just really enjoying the conversation.”
She went on, “Sana naririnig mo, Kuya Royette, kung meron man akong gustong sabihin sa ‘yo more than anything else, kung meron man akong gustong ihingi ng tawad sa ‘yo…
“Kung at one point naparamdam ko sa ‘yo ang rejection, or somehow parang ayokong makipag-communicate, sana mapatawad mo ako.”