SMILING AGAIN, SEEING GREEN, SPEAKING SPIRITUALLY
Tangmo sees error of her ways
Actress Pattaratida “Tangmo” Patcharaveerapong says she can now smile again, days after her well-publicised drama in which she apparently intended to end her life with a sleeping pill overdose.
Tangmo, 31, was admitted to Kasemrad Prachachuen Hospital on Monday in a distressed but conscious state, with images quickly broadcast on social media of her crying on a stretcher, and having a naso-gastric tube inserted.
The outspoken actress also attempted to cut her right wrist, though claims she can’t recall doing it.
A friend, Paeza Pichaipusit, also a TV presenter, published the pictures, though made no apology for breaching her privacy.
Fans were quick to note that Tangmo was wearing a military-style jacket belonging to her former lover, singer and actor Pakin “Tono” Kumvilaisak, 29, who left it behind two months ago when the pair split up.
Within hours, doctors had declared Tangmo out of danger, and the next morning she was back on social media thanking fans for their support.
The supposed trigger for Tangmo’s attempt at self-harm came two nights before when Tono announced in front of a concert crowd that he was now single, admitted he had made a mistake, and urged his fans not to rush into relationships.
Speaking the next day after having her stomach pumped, Tangmo admitted she had tried to end it all, adding it was not the first time she had attempted to take her life.
“I suffer from depression, and when I stray from God my condition gets worse,” Tangmo, a keen Christian, said. She spoke to the media from the hospital, accompanied by doctors and her father, Sophon.
Tangmo’s plight forced Tono himself to go before the media, in a widely watched broadcast which stopped crowds in the street.
A pensive looking Tono apologised for the concert remarks, but said he could not go back to seeing Tangmo again.
“If you were to have me return, I could go back, but it wouldn’t be in the same capacity as before. Love is a matter between two people, but I also have to consider how my parents feel,” he said.
Asked whether he had attempted to repair their relationship, Tono said Tangmo should be in no doubt as to where they stood.
“We went to see a priest to discuss our break-up. We took Tangmo’s dad, and my mum, and we had a chat where we agreed on the cause,” he said.
The pair were engaged at a photographic studio, done up as a church, in December 2013. A priest sealed their union, with Tono converting to Tangmo’s Christian religion to share her faith.
However, their relationship was fraught from the start, with Tono’s fan base, which is larger than Tangmo’s, criticising his decision to hook up with the actress.
Last year, the two were a regular fixture on the anti-government stage. However, Tono’s association with Tangmo cost him millions of baht when a furniture chain dumped him as a presenter after tiring of Tangmo’s scraps in the media.
In her teary and disjointed hospital interview, Tangmo claimed the pair were actually married and not merely engaged in the ceremony two years ago. They did not reveal the status of their pairing for the sake of Tono’s reputation. Under questioning, however, she admitted the pair never registered their marriage, as they couldn’t be bothered with the paperwork.
Tono’s outing before the media the next day brought quick praise from Tangmo’s father, who thanked him for choosing his words carefully to spare his daughter’s feelings.
Singer and The Star 9 finalist Chris Jonathan Roy Chaafe was more outspoken, telling Tangmo that suicide was the selfish way out and she had sinned.
“Your attempt to take your own life exposed Tono to criticism. He was the bad guy in your story. Other people might sympathise with you, but you harmed the one you love, even though he would never want you to take your life, and hasn’t done anything wrong,” Chris, a young Thai-Australian, wrote on social media.
“He just grew sick of you. Why can’t you just quit like anyone else?”
Tangmo admits she did wrong by God, but says she is now willing to carry on with life even without Tono by her side.
“I still go to bed in tears, wearing your T-shirt, but I know you are just as heartbroken, though in a different way,” she wrote, referring to Tono, who has apparently blocked her on social media.
“Today I can finally smile. We still love each other, even though the shape of that love has changed,” she said.
Cee sorry for web row
Actor Siwat “Cee” Chottichaicharin has apologised for losing his cool in an internet row set off by a friend’s boast that she had bought 25 tickets to see the upcoming Maroon 5 concert in Bangkok.
Cee said he was wrong to criticise the band’s fans, after they earlier rounded on him and his celebrity friends including model Morakot “Aimee” Kittisara for boasting of their ticket haul.
Aimee set off the row when she posted a photo of herself on Instagram with 25 tickets taped to the wall. The tickets were tagged to her celebrity friends, including Cee, to show them they had bought seats together. “Are we ready?” she asked. After jealous fans rounded on Aimee, asking if she had exploited her connections to obtain the tickets unfairly, she admitted the seats were not together in one block as claimed.
“I was merely teasing my friends,” she said, admitting she had also erred in claiming she bought the tickets herself. “In fact, friends and colleagues also helped click on the website when bookings opened, though everyone paid in cash,” she said.
A defensive Cee took to the internet, telling Aimee’s critics to get a life. “If you can’t get to the concert, will you explode? Will you get constipation, or your relatives die?” he asked in a clip aired on social media.
Two days later, Cee apologised for his remarks. “Netizens were criticising my friends and even calling my family low-born,” he said, referring to initial reaction to Aimee’s ticket boast.
He said he and his girlfriend, actress Amy Klinpratoom, had paid for five tickets of the 25 pictured for the Sept 21-22 concert. He admitted he obtained them for a “special price”, meaning from a ticket scalper, though said anyone else would have done the same if faced with the prospect of missing out.
Thanks to the fuss over the tickets, he and Amy had decided not to go to the concert after all.
“If I went, I’d probably have to wear a bucket over my head. I’d have to sit there wondering if someone is going to throw a shoe at me. The next time we go to see a concert, it even might have to be overseas,” he lamented.
Reece makes merit for accident victim
Actress Anna Reece says she is grateful the family of the man she killed in a traffic accident bears her no ill will.
“At least they don’t think of me as their enemy … that makes me happy,” she said last week, as she prepared to be ordained as a nun in the Buddhist faith to make merit for the deceased.
Anna has been charged with reckless driving causing death after her Mercedes-Benz hit a parked police car close to the motorway in the Prawet area about 3am on June 26, killing the policeman asleep inside it.
The Thai-English actress was speaking outside Yannawa temple, where she intends to be ordained, and where she also reunited with the mother of the man she killed, Lt Noppadol Wongbandit, an inspector with Suphan Buri police.
The victim’s mother wore a face like stone as Anna prostrated herself at her feet. Anna, whose family earlier acted as hosts at Noppadol’s funeral, said she hoped her victim’s spirit could forgive her.
Blood-alcohol tests had come back showing she was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident. Anna says she is slowly feeling better, and is happy for the law to take its course.
When she spoke to reporters at the temple, she was planning to enter the monastic order for five days, ending this Tuesday.