Leon Barretto posts public letter calling out estranged father Dennis Padilla
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Leon Barretto's letter revealed the 10-year rift between Dennis and his children.
Father's Day was a week ago, but it looks like that one-day occasion has triggered an online confrontation between father and son Dennis Padilla and Leon Barretto, as Leon has posted an open letter calling out his father.
In the latest post on his Instagram account, Leon posted a letter in response to a now-deleted post from Dennis Padilla's Instagram that chided Leon for not greeting him last Father's Day.
In the letter, Leon wrote that he contemplated whether writing this letter was the best thing to do, before saying that social media seems to be Dennis' preferred way to reach out to their family.
Leon first apologized for not being able to greet Dennis a happy Father's Day before explaining that it was awkward for him and his siblings Julia and Claudia to do so because they never know where they stand with him every year.
Leon also wrote that his side of the family has been “trying so hard to slowly rebuild the bridge” between them and Dennis but that Dennis constantly burns it every time he talks about their private matters in “press cons, interviews, and social media.”
“Papa, why does it seem like you enjoy hurting your kids in public? Why do you keep posting cryptic posts about us and allow people to bash us on your own Instagram page?” he wrote. “Do you think it does not pain all of us to not feel protected by their own father? It's not that we don't want to talk to you, but the few times that we do to resolve the issues, you communicate by shouting, cursing, and using hurtful words that traumatize us.”
Leon also revealed that he has watched his sisters “get torn into pieces” for years because of Dennis's “false narratives,” with neither of them saying their side or speaking negatively about Dennis in public.
Leon then expressed a wish to “move forward in the safest and healthiest manner possible” and asked Dennis to “stop resorting to public shaming” when he does not get what he wants. He then ended the letter wishing for the day when he can greet Dennis a “Happy Father's Day” “from a place of gratitude and healing.”
Read the whole letter below.
