Songkran feels heat, Tack led them on, Peck's killer smile

Nosy netizens swamp affair

Pressure is piling on businessman Songkran Techanarong whose relationship with actress Peranee “Matt” Kongthai is running into trouble with netizens.

Internet critics have weighed in after the pair posted images taken from a recent trip to Chiang Dao mountain in Chiang Mai, and Matt daringly posted an image of her and Songkran dining at a restaurant as if to formally declare the two were now an item.

Their pairing has been controversial since Songkran apologised to fans last November for concealing his relationship with Matt, amid claims she had acted as a third hand in breaking up his marriage to actress Taksaorn “Aff” Paksukcharern. The two have a young daughter together.

Songkran admitted he was seeing Matt, but denied she broke up his marriage. His apology came after earlier denials that they had anything going on, and after Songkran belatedly agreed to sign divorce papers with Aff, months after she was forced to go public with her request that the troubled marriage end.

Aff disclosed the previous November that the pair had been apart for a year and she had been bringing up their only child, Peamai, alone since she was born three years ago.

Songkran, son of Bonanza resort owner Paiwong Techanarong, helps his father run the business in Khao Yai, Nakhon Ratchasima. The latest trouble started after Matt posted images of her and Songkran dining together.

Netizens pointed to similarities between this place and the restaurant where he dined with Aff to celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary almost three years ago. They unearthed images from Aff’s IG to compare the two.

Songkran, Matt

Songkran, Aff

Songkran and Matt also posted images of themselves riding horses. Critics said he did the same thing with Aff, and it was almost as if Matt was following in her traces.

The restaurant saga caused a bigger stir, however, compounded when the owner of an eatery came forward to take a poke at Matt for the way she conducted herself on a recent trip to Hua Hin.

She wrote: “Do you remember the trip to Hua Hin? The one where you took a meal at my restaurant? Do you remember asking ‘What are you looking at?’

“I was looking at you because I am the owner. I noticed that Songkran, husband of Aff, was here. They hadn’t yet split up, so why are they sneaking into my place to dine together?” 

Matt deleted the post and blocked the owner, prompting a complaint by her partner. Later, a member of her fanclub asked if the story was true. Matt replied simply that it wasn’t, and thanked her for the opportunity to have her say. However, she gave no further detail.

Earlier, as she posted the restaurant image, Matt took a swipe at her critics, suggesting they were being too nosy. 

“Please let me post something myself...so you don’t have to take pics on the sly. Thanks for following our lives so closely. In future if you want to see a pic of us posted here, please just ask ... no matter what we do, eat, where we go, we will be just like this, living our lives. And how about you: Have you set targets to progress your own lives and those of your loved ones yet? Happy new year!” she wrote.

Meanwhile, reports emerged that Mr Paiwong, Songkran’s father, had hit “like” on a social media comment which appeared to blame Matt for breaking up Songkran’s family.

 “If no one was acting like the devil, this family wouldn’t have broken up,” the comment read.

A timeline helpfully provided by media sleuths trying to determine if the two had started seeing each other slyly before Songkran finally came clean in November shows that Matt declared she had ended her 14-year relationship with her hi-so partner Pat on July 4 last year.

On July 25, she made the first of her denials that she was seeing Songkran.

She agreed she had been to dinner with him at his family’s Khao Yai resort, though she said she went at the invitation of a mutual friend.

Matt repeated her claim about not knowing him personally on Aug 12. On Sept 25, Aff told the media Songkran had finally agreed to a divorce. On Sept 30, Matt went to Norway on family business, and Songkran followed her there separately.

Songkran has said little about the fuss, posting stoically in English: “No mountain too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome.”

Romeo repents for bad ways

Tack, Belle

Notorious Romeo and DJ Paranyu "Tack’’ Rojanavudtitham is apologising for misleading to the women he has dated over the past several years while secretly seeing the woman he has now taken as his wife.

Shock images emerged last week of Tack, also an actor, marrying Adira “Belle” Engtrakul in what was described as a lightning wedding, with only the parents on both sides and an officiating monk present.

Tack denied it was anything that drastic, saying the two had initially decided against any ceremony but opted in favour of a simple one to honour the parents of his bride. He said a bigger function would follow later.

Posting images of an ultrasound test later, Tack admitted Belle was now five months’  pregnant with their first child, and that they had been seeing each other quietly for two to three years.

Belle is a cousin of businessman Sanchai “Peck” Engtrakul, the husband of actress and TV presenter Tanyaret “Tanya” Engtrakul.

Tanya

Asked to comment, Tanya said she did not know Belle was seeing Tack until Peck’s uncle got in touch to say the pair planned to wed. She described the pair as unusual, who appear at opposite ends of the spectrum.

“Tack is sweet, and comes across as a joker,” Tanya said, though she added he was nervous about meeting her husband, Peck.

“Peck told his Mum she should invite Tack along for a meal so the family could get to know him, as they were now in the same clan. At the wedding, Peck’s Mum told Tack that Peck expects him to look after Belle ... Tack went weak at the knees,” she joked.

Making light of the marriage, Tack said he wanted parents on both sides of the family to get to know each other and make merit.

“I have said previously that I want to be married by 35; I am now that age. I also said I would start a family immediately, which is what we are doing, so it is hardly a lighting wedding. Everything is going according to the plan I laid out.

“At first we thought we wouldn’t hold any event, but decided to honour Belle’s parents, so we held a small ceremony at 6 in the morning ... after that I went back to work on my soap opera as usual,” he said.

“I asked for her hand in the normal way according to Thai custom. We told our parents and went out with their knowledge, and I had my parents ask for her hand,” he added.

Asked why so few people knew he was seeing Belle, Tack said they wanted to get used to the other’s lifestyle. “We did it quietly, and didn’t make a big deal. If we worked together well, we could marry immediately.

“She is involved in events planning, and I met her at an event. We went everywhere as normal, and didn’t try to hide anything ... before, she was a special person I was getting to know.”

Later in the week, however, after critics pointed out that Tack had carried on seeing women after his relationship with Belle had started, Tack came forward to offer an apology. “I have to apologise to fans of my show and single women I dated as I kept a secret the fact I already had a girlfriend. I didn’t have bad intentions and didn’t intend to keep it a secret. Now I have owned up to it and bestowed honour on my wife [by marrying her],” he said.

No word was to hand on when the couple plan to hold their wedding bash.

You can’t keep that smile

Peck

Singer Palitchoke “Peck” Ayanaputra is taking extra precautions after a crazed fan said she was prepared to kill him for his dazzling smile.

In comments left on Peck’s Facebook, the fan said she was so captivated when he smiled at her at a recent function that she stayed until the end.

“Heaps of people were calling out your name, but it was as if there was just two of us. If you are not interested in me I would start thinking about the best ways to die. I would like you to die so you can’t smile at any one else and I won’t have to moan for you any more,’’ the fan wrote.

Peck’s manager, Pong Wattanapong, called on fans to stop giving him food as gifts for the time being, to safeguard against the risk of poisoning. 

She was less worried about the risk of a physical attack, but would deploy “skills” which Korean and other overseas artists adopted in such cases, she said without elaborating. It is unclear if Peck intends referring the matter to police.