Lea Salonga (MNS photo)
Lea Salonga said she was at a loss for words when she first learned that she is Aga Muhlach’s “TOTGA” or “the one that got away.”
Salonga said she only knew about it after Muhlach submitted his contribution for her book.
“I was in shock. We asked him kasi to write a message. I was going to different people para dito sa librong ito. Of course, how do we not ask him to make a contribution? And then all of a sudden, we got the submission from Aga,” she narrated.
Saying she couldn’t talk for a couple of seconds after seeing it, Salonga shared: “[My editor and I] were both in shock. Kaming pareho, we were looking at his letter. We were like, ‘Oh my God.’ The only reaction was ‘Wow!’ Yun lang. Frozen in my chair.”
While it surprised her, Salonga said she found Muhlach’s message “very sweet, very well written, and very heartfelt.”
According to Salonga, she and Muhlach never became a couple in real life because timing was never on their side.
“Bad timing talaga because when we were shooting ‘Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal,’ ako iyong may boyfriend sa totoong buhay. Noong ‘Sana Maulit Muli,’ during the first part, umiiyak-iyak siya because he had just broken up with a girlfriend. And then naghiwalay muna kami because he had another movie to make, and I had a musical. So we started doing ‘Sana Maulit Muli’ again. Nagka-girlfriend ulit. Ako naman ang single. So talagang hindi kami meant in real life,” she said.
Despite this, Salonga believes she and Muhlach are better off as friends.
“Nakakakilig. But we are better off as friends, as really good friends so we can make you people kilig,” she said.(MNS)