MANILA, Philippines – Netizens were deeply moved by the heartfelt revelations shared by GMA Network’s trivia master and TV host Kuya Kim Atienza on the recent controversial passing of his daughter, social media personality and mental health advocate Emman Atienza, in an exclusive interview with award-winning broadcast journalist Jessica Soho.
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| Photo courtesy: Screenshot from KMJS/Facebook, Emman Atienza (Instagram) |
The program “Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho” (KMJS) released several video clips from Jessica’s visit to Emman’s wake, whose remains had already been brought home to the Philippines. Emman was cremated in the United States, and her ashes were placed in an urn. The interview took place at the Atienza family’s residence.
The TikTok star passed away on October 22 in Los Angeles, California, USA, where Kuya Kim’s daughter had been residing.
At the very start of the interview, Jessica immediately expressed that she initially didn’t want to proceed with it and would have preferred simply to listen to whatever Kuya Kim wanted to share.
However, Kuya Kim assured her that he was in a stable condition at that moment. His face clearly showed signs of exhaustion and sorrow, with his eyes still swollen from crying, yet he still managed to face Jessica with a gentle smile throughout the interview.
Next, Kuya Kim shared that when Emman passed away, he and his wife, Felicia Atienza, were already aware that their daughter had been going through personal struggles. He also revealed that Emman had made “a few attempts” in the past.
Kuya Kim also recounted several details leading up to the day of his daughter’s passing.
"Emman texted her mommy. Sabi niya, 'Mom, I'm in an emergency right now but worry not. There's no self-harm. But I need to go to a therapy center,’” Kuya Kim said.
"So iyon ang message namin. So we knew there was something wrong. We tried calling her, hindi sumasagot. And then the next day we tried calling her again, hindi na naman sumasagot. So I knew. I was in the Philippines, Fely was in Florida. Mayroon siyang pickleball championship, eh. Buti nasa America na siya when that happened, 'no? But I was waiting here."
"And then on the second day, I woke up in the morning, may message si Fely. 'I have terrible, terrible news.' I knew already. Napaluhod ako, nanlambot ang tuhod ko. Sabi ko, 'Lord, heto na.' So I called Fely, and Fely said, 'Emman's gone.'"
"Nanlambot ako, nanlamig ako. And ang nasa utak ko, 'Lord, dasal ko sa yo 'to araw-araw. Why?'"
"So, Emman is now in the Philippines, but right now I'm just grieving that Emman is lost," ani Kim.
Despite the pain of losing his daughter, Kuya Kim said he still believes that there is a beautiful reason behind it all.
"I can see that it's moving a lot of people, not only in the Philippines but worldwide,” he said.
"Alam mo ba yung anak ko, si Emman is, was in New York Times. She was in TMZ, Entertainment Tonight... and painfully I was reading all the comments. And all the articles. But what's good about her being written about was they wrote about what happened and they also wrote about what she stood for, which is a little kindness."
"Kumalat 'yon, eh. 'A little kindness, a little kindness.' Emman was so kind. Napakabait ng batang 'yon, sobra."
Emman’s remains will be open for public viewing from Monday, November 3, to Tuesday, November 4.
— Noel Ed Richards, The Summit Express