Janella Salvador says she was physically hurt by Elmo Magalona

Janella Salvador has admitted to being physically hurt, twice, by onscreen partner Elmo Magalona.

In Ricky Lo’s column on Philippine Star Wednesday, the young actor made clear she was opening up about the incident not to bring Elmo down but to “correct the lies being spread against me and my mom, and to let the truth out.”

According to Janella, the “incident” that pushed her to open up happened after the two attended a party hosted by Janella’s friend. “Elmo reportedly had one drink too many and Janella admitted to 'social drinking'," Lo reported.

She slapped Elmo as a way of fighting back, because she felt “disrespected.”

That was the second time Elmo hurt her, with the first happening months earlier. According to Janella, Elmo could not remember that time “maybe because he had a drink and he asked for forgiveness and I gave him a chance. I told him, ‘Next time, don’t bring yourself to the point that you will hurt someone.’ And he promised that he wouldn’t do it again,” Janella recounted to Lo.

Reporter Bayani San Diego in the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Janella and Elmo “had tried to fix the problem with their managers at Star Magic. In that meeting, Janella recounted, Elmo had ‘volunteered’ to address and acknowledge the issue.”

Instead of a public statement, silence took over, which Janella admitted “was hard on me.”

“He was being stopped from owning up to his mistake,” Janella added.

According to Janella, she’s now seeing a psychologist as Elmo, she added.

GMA News Online reached out to Elmo via his mother Pia Magalona but has since not yet received a response as of posting. —LA/JST, GMA News