Taking sides? Bela Padilla, Dani Barretto’s best friend, explains dinner with Bea

MANILA—Bela Padilla shared that she received a slew of "super hateful" comments after she was pictured having dinner with Bea Alonzo, a day after fresh allegations of Gerald Anderson having an affair with Julia Barretto surfaced.

Padilla, known as the best friend of Julia's sister Dani, revealed that fans were quick to take the photo out of context and assume that she was taking the side of Alonzo in the controversy.

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Happy Bela day to my soul sister and my ever so supportive and reliable bestfriend! May this year bring you peace, more blessings and the LOVE that you deserve. I love you forever and ever, my Belyyy! This world is lucky to have you. I got your back, always. @bela

A post shared by Dani Barretto-Panlilio (@danibarretto) on May 2, 2019 at 9:29pm PDT

It was rumored that Anderson cheated on Alonzo with Julia while they were still in a relationship. It took more than a week for both Anderson and Julia to deny this speculation, which was based on Alonzo's social media activity hinting about infidelity.

• READ: Julia Barretto tells Bea Alonzo: ‘I refuse to be your victim’

"I just feel like it's not supposed to be a big deal," Padilla said on "Tonight With Boy Abunda" in an episode aired Tuesday.

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She insisted that the dinner was purely professional ("mandatory" for Dreamscape artists who was at that week's trade launch) and denied that she unfollowed Julia on social media right after it.

Padilla explained that she removed Julia from her Instagram feed last year when she was undergoing a social media cleanse, which saw her go from an Instagram follow list of 4,000 down to 2,000.

She revealed that she unfollowed several friends in the industry, and was actually planning to completely empty out her list if not for her now-busy schedule preventing her from doing so.

"These are people I work with and I hope to work with also in the future . . . I was comfortable in this situation," she said of those she ate with, referring to the likes of Alonzo and Angel Locsin.

"What I'm uncomfortable with is the insinuation that I unfollowed Julia because of this dinner because I did not.

"I actually texted tita Marjorie (Julia and Dani's mother), my best friend Dani, and Julia because it became such a big deal. I got so many messages from Julia's fans, which were super hateful."

She joked that people who have plenty of time to spread toxicity on social media need to "chill and go to school."

She concluded her answer on the topic by saying that the dinner "wasn't an attack towards someone. It was literally just a dinner. Sana let's not think badly of people."