Ricci Rivero breaks silence on Andrea Brillantes breakup

Ricci Rivero has broken his silence on the reasons for his breakup with actress Andrea Brillantes.

On Monday's episode of "Fast Talk with Boy Abunda," the basketball player said he felt the need to air his side of the story because his family is already being affected by all the issues surrounding him.

"If ako [lang], OK lang, pero 'wag naman 'yung pamilya ko," Ricci said.

"Kaya ko tanggapin eh kasi alam ko naman na 'di totoo, pero kapag sa pamilya ko, siguro it's time for me to step up and kailangan ko sila protektahan sa mga issues na 'to," he added.

In the exclusive interview with the King of Talk, Ricci said that he and Andrea broke up on the first week of May, after almost a month of "cool off."

"April, we took a little break from each other, kailangan lang ng breather," he said. "' Yung breakup was first week of May."

According to the athlete, their breakup was caused by many reasons, including the viral video where the actress caught a woman in Ricci's condo.

"'Yung cause ng breakup was 'yung speculation ngayon, 'yung may kumakalat sa social media na may nakita siyang girl sa place ko," Ricci said.

"Ilang beses naman namin napag usapan 'to, as in sobrang daming beses na sinabi ko sa kanya, with all the evidences I have, na hindi sa 'kin 'yung girl," he added.

Ricci clarified that the girl Andrea saw in his condo was his friend's companion.

"May papuntang friend ako ng midnight tapos hindi ko naman alam na may kasama siya, tapos 'yun 'yung inabutan [ni Andrea] that time," he said.

Ricci also said it was Andrea who took the video, which had gone viral on social media.

"Even after that, nag-uusap pa rin kami, nagkikita pa rin kami, usual us na walang away, walang taasan ng boses, 'yung maayos na pinag-uusapan namin 'yung amin," he said.

Earlier this month, Ricci publicly confirmed his breakup with the actress through a social media post.

In his tweet, Ricci owned 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."

As of writing, Andrea has yet to issue a statement regarding their breakup.

—Hermes Joy Tunac/MGP, GMA Integrated News