Joey De Leon, The Original Barbi, Now Mentors Paolo Ballesteros In The Millenial Version Of Barbi

JOEY DE LEON was the one who popularized the original Barbi in three films he did before. What’s his reaction when he learned that it will be revived with Paolo Ballesteros playing Barbi? “Okay na okay agad sa akin kasi bilib ako sa talent ni Paolo,” he says. “Sa ‘Eat Bulaga’, mahirap ang ginagawa nila nina Jose Manalo at Wally Bayola sa ‘Juan for All’ segment, pati si Maine Mendoza, kasi nasa labas talaga sila. E kami ni Vic, nakaupo lang sa loob ng studio. So Paolo has my full support dahil malaki ang paniniwala ko sa talent niya as a comedian.”

He’s not only just supporting Paolo by word of mouth but he also appears in the movie as Paolo’s mentor who helps transform Paolo into a woman after he got accused of a crime he didn’t commit and has to disguise himself. Recently, he got a lot of bashing for his statement about depression, saying he doesn’t believe in it at ‘gawa-gawa lang yan ng ibang tao’. How did he feel about it? “Nag-sorry naman agad ako kasi pati asawa ko at mga anak namin, sinabing nagkakamali ako at may kamag-anak nga raw kaming may ganung kalagayan. Naging mababaw ang pagkakaalam ko about depression kasi akala ko, stress lang yun. So, habang buhay pa tayo, natututo tayo at inamin ko namang nagkamali ako at humingi na lang ako ng pang-unawa.”