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‘I remember 02-02-02’: Heart Evangelista gets candid about John Prats, her first love-turned-good friend

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ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — A candid Heart Evangelista opened up about her past relationship with John Prats, her onscreen and real-life boyfriend as a teenager, in her latest vlog released over the weekend.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/life/10/20/20201020-heart-evangelista-john-prats.jpg"/><figcaption>Heart Evangelista candidly recalls her ‘love team’ with John Prats in her most recent vlog. <em>YouTube: Love Marie Escudero</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Evangelista, 35, was reacting to old videos of her as a young actress. As Evangelista’s early showbiz career saw her partnered with Prats, several of the clips included the actor.</p><p>Reacting to an “ASAP” dance number she once shared with Prats, Evangelista said, “May pahawak-hawak pa sa face!”</p><p>A subsequent clip showed a scene from the youth-oriented series “Berks,” where she was paired with Prats.</p><p>“I really spent a lot of time with John Prats growing up, because we were the love team. He was my MU (mutual understanding),” she said.</p><p>“I remember 02-02-02 ‘yung naging MU-MU kami noong bata kami,” Evangelista added, referring to the date February 2, 2002.</p><p>At the time, Evangelista was 16, while Prats was 17.</p><p>“But that fizzled out. We’re friends now though! We were just very comfortable with each other.”</p><p>Their “love team” ran for five years, while their actual relationship lasted two years, Prats said in a previous interview.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RGLXa1NATH4?enablejsapi=1"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Evangelista is now married to Sorsogon governor Francis “Chiz” Escudero. Prats, meanwhile, recently welcomed his third child with his wife, actress Isabel Oli.</p><p>When a scene from her 2003 film with Prats, “My First Romance,” was shown, Evangelista shared one of the reasons they eventually ended their “MU.”</p><p>“Alam ko dito sa part na ‘to, magkaaway kami ni John Prats. Nag-aaway kami, kasi may nanliligaw na sa akin na iba noon. Eventually, naging boyfriend ko ‘yung person na ‘yun,” she said.</p><p>Evangelista did not identify the man who started courting her at the time. Her publicly known boyfriends, before her marriage with Escudero, are actors Jericho Rosales and Daniel Matsunaga.</p><p>Evangelista has been open about her past relationships ending because of her parents’ meddling — a fact she recalled anew when a clip of her interview about Escudero was shown.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DYEwn05LAjQ?enablejsapi=1"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Explaining her being tight-lipped and evasive during that interview, Evangelista said: “Every time I go out and admit something, na-ji-jinx, o kaya my parents obviously think, ‘Naku, seryoso na, it’s time to end it.’ So kunyari, nonchalant lang, kasi kung hindi, nandiyan na sila! I didn’t want [to do] this interview but I still did it.”</p><p>During her early part of her relationship with Escudero, Evangelista became estranged from her parents, as they publicly expressed disapproval of the politician. They have since mended ties.</p><p>“So much has changed but when I look back, it is still very much me, and I guess that’s a good thing, not really a bad thing,” said Evangelista, who throughout the vlog couldn’t help but cringe because of her “kikay” or girlish behavior in the throwback videos.</p><p>“I’m just so happy that everything turned out to be very, very good, so kapit lang. Everything’s going to end up well.”</p>