Best friends Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera fell for the same girl before

“I’ll let Gary answer that for both of us,” Martin teased, already knowing, to which a laughing Gary answered “Trulili! I had a crush on Pops Fernandez.” (File Photo: @garyvalenciano/Instagram)

Sometimes, it takes a playful walk down memory lane to elicit some of the most interesting bits of the past – just like how best friends Gary Valenciano and Martin Nievera admitted falling for the same girl: Pops Fernandez.

How many movies and teleseryes have written two best friends falling for the same girl? They may have graced the same stage together several times as famous names in the world of Original Pinoy Music (OPM) but they are not fictional characters in a romance film. Reality allowed it to happen as shared by Gary in “Straight Talk,” an online talk show hosted by another music icon, Jaya.

In its segment “Trulili or Witchikels” where the guests will have to answer ‘trulili’ if the statement that Jaya reads is true for them, or ‘witchikels’ if not.

Both musicians were game in answering and getting personal but still in a candid way. This applied the same when the statement “Nagkagusto sa (Fell for the) same girl” flashed on the screen.

“I’ll let Gary answer that for both of us,” Martin teased, already knowing, to which a laughing Gary answered “Trulili! I had a crush on Pops Fernandez.”

Despite being best friends, Gary said that he did not know that Martin was already falling for Pops back then. “Hindi naman niya sinasabi sa akin. Ano ba ‘yan! (He did not even tell me!)” he exclaimed.

Martin defended himself, saying that he and Pops were really just best friends back then.

“In fact, she would talk to me about all her suitors and you were one of them. You were the best dancer of them all,” he shared.

It is not a secret that the dubbed “Concert King” and “Concert Queen,” Martin and Pops eventually got married in 1986 and even had two kids. They separated in 1995 as reported by PhilStar – which they denied, only to admit years later to be true. They remain as good friends today and continue to work on joint projects.

Meanwhile, Gary also got married in 1986 with his wife Angeli Pangilinan. They have three children.