Love in slums goes wrong, road rage ends in clash, pancake gets a grilling

Pat's regrets over forbidden love

Pat

Actress Napapa "Pat" Thantrakul, 29, says she was wrong to fall in love with a young man from the slums who ended up going back to his former lover.

Pat’s secret relationship with poor, self-described motorcycle street racer Thanapol "Jack" Tayahan, 20, has dominated the Thai media all week after she was spotted at the scene of a slum-style soi clash between her family and Jack’s ex-love.

Media commentators have chastised her for falling in love with a man below her class.
In one news report, Pat offers a wai of apology to her mother for letting such a "bad person" into her life, though in earlier interviews she asked the public not to judge Jack by his upbringing.

"My family judges people by their sincerity. We let him into our lives because he was a good person," she said, adding she did not know at the time Jack would go back to his former love, Benjawan Noppan, 21.

She has also rejected criticism that as an actress she should know better than to get involved in teen-style fighting. 

Pat, at the tussle

"I went there to help out my family. I am a person with feelings first, before I am a public figure," she said.

The saga of Pat’s recent heartbreak — and fondness for younger men on the wild side — came to light when a clip of the fight surfaced on social media.

Reporters recognised her in the crowd as two young women were fighting on the ground, and asked if it was her.

Pat said she turned up with her family to air differences with Jack’s old flame, after her niece, Chatthanan "Naf" Taosiripan,  17, exchanged angry words on social media with Benjawan.

The two sides arranged the meeting apparently knowing it would end in a clash.

After the talks broke down, Naf and Benjawan are shown striking at each other, rolling on the ground and pulling each other’s hair before Benjawan, shown later with extensive scratches to her face, flees the scene.

Jack had recently broken up with Pat, and taken up with Benjawan again. Pat admits she was present, but denies hitting anyone. Police are looking into the clash and have called both sides in for questioning. 

Days before, Naf, upset on Pat’s behalf, had called Benjawan, and accused her of conspiring with Jack to dupe celebrity Pat out of her money. They also exchanged blows on social media.

Earlier, Jack had asked Pat if they could end their nine-month relationship, which the pair had kept secret from her fans.

Jack, who describes himself as a simple boy from the Bangkok slums, denies he was seeing Benjawan on the sly. 

Jack

He claims he realised Pat was too good for him and he felt out of his element.

However, Pat, who said Jack had recently missed her birthday party, believes Jack was seeing his old flame on the quiet.

‘‘When I told him I knew about the other woman, he abandoned the talk about our class differences and simply walked out,’’ she said.

Jack denies trying to leach off Pat’s wealth. "I entered her life with nothing, and left the same way. She bought me clothes and a watch, but I returned the lot," he said.

Recalling the start of their relationship, Jack said he met Pat at a petrol station as she was giving food to vagrants.  He moved into her family home three months later.

Pat says Jack helped look after her ill mother. She taught him to drive so he could take her to work.

The coupling might have ended quietly, but the row between Benjawan and Naf brought the bitter parting back to life.

The two sides turned up at a fenced area of a city park in Bang Kho Laem district on Jan 2 to clear the air.

Denying claims she invited up to 30 supporters, Pat insists she took only her family along, including her elder sister (Naf’s mother). Jack was not present. Naf was accompanied by her mother, who also joined the fray.

"We asked that both sides come alone. But at the agreed time, six teens on two bikes turned up, scouted the scene, and disappeared," Pat said.

About 15 minutes later they came back on four bikes with more supporters,’’ Pat said.

Both sides have since done the rounds of the media with Pat saying she just wants the saga to end.

Wat Prayakrai police, in Bang Kho Laem district, are investigating. -

2. Yak has 'no hard feelings' for attacker

Yak, in black, and his assailant

The former drummer for the Thai band Clash says he has no hard feelings after a man hit him in a road rage attack last week.

Anan "Yak" Dapphetthikon, 33, has a gash in his left cheek after a man punched him repeatedly when their vehicles almost collided.

Yak said he sounded his horn after the other motorist pressed his first. That was enough to prompt the frenzy, which was witnessed by locals and caught on CCTV camera.

Yak said he was backing out of soi 39, Bang Na-Trat Road, after grabbing a coffee just as motorist Pornthep Mayomrat, 33, was heading in. The vehicles almost hit each other.

After the sounding of horns, Mr Pornthep swung in front of Yak’s vehicle, and headed over.
"I wound down my window and urged him to return, as I didn’t want any trouble. However, he grabbed me in a headlock and started punching me," Yak said.

Yak said the man hit him five times as he struggled to get out of his car. "When I climbed out of the vehicle, he got a shock as I am a big guy. He started retreating immediately," he said.

"I asked him why he felt the need to hit me," he said. "He said he would only talk if I called the police, so I did."

The row had a spin-off in social media when Clash’s former frontman, singer Preeti "Bank" Barameeanant, came out to back Yak.

Earlier, Mr Pornthep appeared to boast of his row with Yak on social media. "I had a run-in with Ai Yak," he said, referring to him in a derogatory manner.

"You spoke to me in a bad way, so I let you have it," he wrote.

In response, Bank dared Mr Pornthep to front him.

"I’ll put it simply ... if you did this to my friend, and you’re not willing to stop, I won’t stop either. Yak is a gentle guy who has never done anyone any harm. Come and talk to me like a man, you wretch," he wrote.

He later withdrew the remark, saying he didn’t want to set a poor example. "I am not going to trade punches with him … I have more brains," he said.

Yak and Mr Pornthep met for police-mediated talks at Bang Kaew station in Samut Prakan. Mr Pornthep apologised and agreed to pay Yak’s medical expenses.

Police say they will proceed with legal action against him regardless. -

3. Star dismisses 'class card' gibes

Centre of attention

Actress and singer Kemanij "Pancake" Jamikorn is brushing off netizens’ claims she was trying to draw attention to herself at a New Year meditation event when she sat alone on a carpet normally reserved for monks.

Pancake came under fire for "playing the class card" as she sat apart from ordinary merit-makers at the Cherntawan International Meditation Centre prayer session on New Year’s Eve.

Hundreds gathered at the centre to pray at the "across the years" ceremony held to usher in 2016. An image which appeared on social media shows Pancake sitting in prayer position on a long yellow carpet which took monks and the head of the ceremony to the stage.

Netizens asked what she was doing there, why she seemed so intent on drawing attention to herself, and if she was trying to assert her superiority over ordinary folk.

Responding to the critics, the actress said she posed for the picture, part of a set of images, at the centre’s request. "I am not worried about the criticism, as I did everything with an innocent heart," she said.

"Those who were present in the crowd knew what was happening. As soon as I had finished taking the picture, I resumed my seat alongside everyone else."