Push Admin

What happened? Julia reveals ‘painful’ turning point made her a better actress

Article (news)

Miguel Dumaual, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/tvpatrol/11/16/20181130-julia.jpg"/><figcaption>A flood of tragic memories shakes Eva (Julia Barretto) with fresh grief in the November 29 episode of ‘Ngayon at Kailanman.’ <em>ABS-CBN</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Praise poured in online for Julia Barretto’s portrayal of grief and tearful relief in the pivotal episode of “Ngayon at Kailanman” on Thursday, which finally saw the confirmation of the blood ties between her character Eva and Iza Calzado’s Rebecca.</p><p>The realization came to both after Eva managed to regain and piece together her memories as a child who grew up in the coastal town of San Nicolas. There, familiar sights shook her with fresh anguish, as the killings of her foster parents, Joey (Manuel Chua) and Lia (Mercedes Cabral), replayed in her mind.</p><p>With the help of her sketches of crystallizing memories, Eva now had a chronology formed. While she was raised with love and had a happy childhood, her parents had always been overly cautious of her safety, as if eternally wary of approaching danger. They had taught her how to sail and anchor a boat by herself — to what means, she couldn’t figure, until the fateful night Joey and Lia were killed trying to protect her.</p><p>At age 7, on a boat and despite perilous waves, she managed to escape the gunmen. Their identities and motive remained a mystery to Eva even as she now remembered the tragedy.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DWgtNrJHhm8?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>Showing Rebecca her sketches, including the faces of Lia and Joey, Eva unwittingly brought to her a puzzle piece that would confirm what Rebecca had long suspected. Eva is Angela, Rebecca’s long-lost daughter.</p><p>Joey was the gunman hired to kill Rebecca and the infant Angela, whom he decided to take in as his own out of guilt. Rebecca’s earlier investigation established that Joey did, in fact, raise the baby girl until he was killed. The child could no longer be found and was presumed dead, too.</p><p>But as Eva and Rebecca tearfully determined, the young Eva did manage to survive and was taken in by Rosa’s (Rio Locsin) family, who then reared her to adulthood in Manila.</p><p>Eva’s gemstone necklace, which Rebecca had given her baby Angela, was the last clue that finally solved their lives’ biggest mystery.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XGXUYqt4nv0?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>As the climactic scene aired on Thursday, viewers took to Twitter to applaud the actresses’ portrayal of a mother and daughter finding each other after long years apart.</p><p>Barretto’s scenes where Eva was flooded with tragic memories were also a common subject of praise among “Ngayon at Kailanman” fans online, with several saying they, too, were moved to tears.</p><p>By many viewers’ standards, it would appear, Barretto has significantly matured as an actress since her 2014 teleserye debut via “Mirabella.”</p><p>“I have been dreaming of this day, to be appreciated by people,” Barretto said of the reception to her acting. “I just want to feel appreciated. I’m so happy. I give my best every single day. I work so hard. It’s overwhelming and I’m so grateful. More than anything, I’m so grateful.”</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/tvpatrol/11/16/20181130-julia-joshua.jpg"/><figcaption>Julia Barretto poses for a photo with onscreen partner Joshua Garcia during the recent ‘Family is Love’ filming. <em>Michael Bagtas, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Barretto spoke with ABS-CBN News on the sidelines of the recent filming of “Family is Love,” ABS-CBN’s Christmas station ID where her onscreen pairing with Joshua Garcia is among the highlights, alongside today’s most popular love teams.</p><p>Garcia was Barretto’s leading man in the 2016 blockbuster “Vince and Kath and James (VKJ)” along with Ronnie Alonte. That film saw the breakthrough of what’s now known as the “JoshLia” tandem. (They’re the romantic leads of “Ngayon at Kailanman,” their first teleserye together.)</p><p>Not only did “VKJ” launch the love team, the Metro Manila Film Festival entry was also Barretto’s fresh chance to showcase her talent as an actress, to no less then the wide-reaching Christmastime audience.</p><p>And they did take notice. Critics did, too.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iGgETz6AA1k?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>“What happened?” she said, echoing this writer’s question as to the turning point of her maturity in acting. She sighed, as if to collect her thoughts and weigh the words she would respond with.</p><p>“I needed some growing to do,” she said. “I needed to experience and understand pain more. I needed to experience and understand love more. I needed to experience and understand life itself.”</p><p>Considered a “showbiz royalty” as the daughter of former actress Marjorie Barretto and comedian Dennis Padilla, Julia Barretto followed in her parents’ footsteps as early as when she was 9. She was then introduced as a teen star in 2013.</p><p>By her own admission, her second start in showbiz was tumultuous. She grappled, or in some cases evaded, a string of intrigues, all while trying to establish a firm footing as a leading lady. Until her team-up with Garcia, Barretto’s pairings just wouldn’t seem to click with the audience.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LaSi0efmjrk?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>“I think everything that I went through before ‘VKJ’ is what really shaped me into the person that I am today. I was in such a very low place in my life,” she said, without giving details.</p><p>A cursory search about Barretto would show that in 2014, in a televised interview, she tearfully admitted being hurt by being “judged” unfairly. Then in 2015, her supposed rift with her father became the subject of headlines, resulting in “bashing” that the then-18-year-old said could be too much to deal with. The following year saw their reconciliation.</p><p>“I felt like I could use my pain and experiences and turn them turn into art,” Barretto said of how she wrestled with that turbulent time in her career.</p><p>“I’ve really grown to love what I do so much, so my heart is really in it already. May puso na talaga. Compared to when I was starting, siguro I felt like it was all fun and games. At the end of the day, it’s really not. It’s all about the heart pala,” she said.</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BlUdVuqH4nN/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:16px"><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;align-items:center"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:40px;margin-right:14px;width:40px"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:100px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:60px"> </div></div></div><div style="padding:19% 0"> </div><div style="display:block;height:50px;margin:0 auto 12px;width:50px"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BlUdVuqH4nN/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd" stroke="none" stroke-width="1"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div><div style="padding-top:8px"><div style="color:#3897f0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:550;line-height:18px"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BlUdVuqH4nN/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div></div><div style="padding:12.5% 0"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;margin-bottom:14px;align-items:center"><div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(0px) translateY(7px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"><div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"> </div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BlUdVuqH4nN/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Julia (@juliabarretto)</a> on <time dateTime="2018-07-17T04:39:01+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Jul 16, 2018 at 9:39pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div>

<p>“What happened?” Barretto said, sighing as if to collect her thoughts and weigh the words she would respond with.</p>

“What happened?” Barretto said, sighing as if to collect her thoughts and weigh the words she would respond with.

What happened? Julia reveals ‘painful’ turning point made her a better actress

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

Traffic

Manila

Horoscope

Showbiz

What happened? Julia reveals ‘painful’ turning point made her a better actress

Miguel Dumaual,

ABS-CBN News

Published Nov 30, 2018 08:13 PM PHT

|

Updated Nov 30, 2018 08:39 PM PHT

Read More:

Julia Barretto

Ngayon at Kailanman

Vince and Kath and James

Joshua Garcia

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.