FORMER beauty queen and actress Melanie Marquez has claimed she was “abducted” on her birthday and confined in a mental hospital for 10 days.
Speaking on television show “Fast Talk with Boy Abunda,” Marquez vaguely recounted that she was invited to what she believed was a birthday party in July, but was snatched instead and placed in a mental health facility. She did not specify the year of the incident.
“I was kidnapped against my will,” she said, adding that she was isolated, unable to communicate with anyone, and injected with medication that immobilized her. She said she later learned she was being held at a mental hospital in Pasig City.
Marquez linked the incident to a legal case she had filed against her estranged husband, whom she accused of physical abuse.
She said she was later transferred to a rehabilitation center where she stayed for eight months and suffered from depression. According to her, the staff at the facility eventually told her that medical tests showed she had no mental illness.
Marquez also denied claims that she intended to harm herself or her two sons, both of whom have special needs, adding that her remarks were misunderstood.
She then expressed hopes for healing and peace as she welcomed the new year.
Her husband, Adam “Randy” Lawyer has strongly denied the abuse allegations raised against him by Marquez in an interview on national television.
On Wednesday, Jan. 6, Abunda read a statement emailed to the program by Lawyer’s legal team, categorically rejecting Marquez’s claims.
The statement issued by counsels Mitzell Arthur Magdaong, Isabel Perfetua Doctolero, and Jecko Bello dismissed Marquez’s accusations as baseless, unfounded, and damaging to their client’s reputation.
“Our client, Mr. Adam Lawyer, categorically denies with strongest terms the allegations thrown against him,” the statement read, adding that previous complaints filed by Marquez were investigated and dismissed by the proper authorities.
The lawyers also said one suit was tossed out by the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office and never reached the court.
“Ms. Marquez has a notorious history of hurling ostentatious, fabricated claims of abuse at Mr. Lawyer—every single one previously investigated and dismissed as baseless and unfounded by the appropriate authority/ies and forum/s,” the statement noted.
Lawyer’s camp characterized the renewed accusations as “malicious harassment” and said he would respond to the claims before the Bureau of Immigration which they described as the “proper forum.”
The statement followed Marquez’s Jan. 5 interview, where she accused Lawyer of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, including claims that she was punched, threatened with a gun, and involuntarily confined in medical facilities. She also said she was seeking the cancellation of Lawyer’s visa and filing for divorce.
Marquez and Lawyer married in 2000 and had two children.
