
Beauty queen-turned-politician Leren Mae Bautista released a statement that denied rumors about her romantic involvement with basketball player Ricci Rivero, who just confirmed his breakup with actress Andrea Brillantes.
The office of Leren Mae, who currently serves as a councilor of Los Baños City, called the rumors "entirely false" and have "no basis."
The statement, which was posted on her Facebook page, read, "We would like to address the disinformation that has been circulating across social media platforms regarding Councilor Leren and her alleged romantic involvement with basketball player Ricci Rivero. We want to make it clear that these claims are entirely false and have no basis in reality."
According to the statement, the video that circulated online was taken during Ricci's celebration with other guests.
"The recent outreach activity in which Councilor Leren participated with Ricci Rivero is not an indication of a romantic relationship between them.
"The video that went viral, depicting Ricci's belated celebration with his friends, whom numerous other invited individuals joined, was taken down due to concerns about potential misinterpretation by viewers."
On June 9, Ricci confirmed his breakup with Andrea as they plead the public to give them time to move on from their relationship.
"I own up to the mistake of not making my relationship status public because I felt there's no need to add up to what we're going through," he wrote in the wee hours of June 9.
"Please respect our decision to keep it to ourselves so that we can preserve what's left of our friendship," he pleads and continued to ask the netizens to stop creating their own versions of what really happened.
"I am sorry for whatever disappointments it may have caused you - for everyone's peace of mind, please allow ourselves to heal and move on peacefully without hate and pain."
I own up to the mistake of not making my relationship status public because I felt there's no need to add up to what were going through. Please respect our decision to keep it to ourselves so that we can preserve whats left of our friendship. I hope let's stop creating your own…
-- Ricci Rivero (@_ricciiirivero) June 8, 2023
Before Ricci's tweet, a rumor circulated on Twitter accusing Ricci of having an affair with Leren Mae.
In a now-deleted Instagram story, Leren uploaded a close-up photo of Ricci, which he reposted.
Ricci and Andrea became official after his on-court proposal which happened right after the UP Fighting Maroons' win over the FEU Tamaraws in April 2022.
TAKE A LOOK BACK AT RICCI AND ANDREA'S RELATIONSHIP IN THIS GALLERY: