Actress Pitchanart "May" Sakakorn says she wants her newly declared boyfriend, football star Chanathip "Messi Jay" Songkrasin, to go as far in his career as he can, even if they end up apart.
"Fans shouldn't worry he will get distracted now he has a girlfriend," she told Thai Rath last week.
"I am not the kind of woman who needs her boyfriend around constantly or have fans cheering him," she said. A darling of the football field, Jay plays for Muang Thong United and is a member of the national team.
Pitchanart 'May' Sakakorn and Chanathip 'Messi Jay' Songkrasin.
May, 30, came forward to discuss their love after Jay, dispelling days of speculation in the press after the two were pictured getting close at the King's Cup final on June 5, confirmed the two were an item.
"The truth is we have known each other for a long time now. We talked until we reached the point where we are now seeing each other," he wrote on Instagram.
"Really I don't want to tell anyone, as I don't want to be in the news. I want to keep my senses about me for the game. I hope my fanclub understands. I was born from football."
May's celebrity friends have joined her fans in congratulating the pair, though the news appears to have left many in shock, with some asking if it can last.
"We have hardly met in the two years we have known each other, as Jay is too busy. I imagine that will carry on," May said.
May said she first noticed Jay at the AFF Suzuki Cup in 2004. "Back then, most fans were enthusing about No 7, Charyl Chappuis. Jay wasn't as famous then as he is today.
"The guy in the No 18 jersey was tiny, but kept running constantly, he was so determined. I asked a friend who is No 18, and she told me it was Jay. I mentioned on Instagram that I liked him." She had followed Thai football ever since, with Jay as her favourite.
The two finally met on a TV show at Christmas when the host, who knew she followed the game, invited her to meet four or five members of the national team, including Jay. "I intended to go just to ask for his signature. But the producers put us in the same Line group and that's when we started chatting," she said.
"When we talk, we just click. I love telling him about my day and he's the only man I could talk to all day and still feel comfortable. He loves his football, his family and caring for animals, and most importantly, loves me," she said.
"A while ago I went through a difficult patch when my mother and my pet dog were sick, and I thought I had nobody. But Jay stuck by me. I am not interested in the fact he's 10cm shorter than me, and I am eight years older. When we talk, it is as if the differences melt away."
May said while she has thought little about the future, she would like Jay to end up playing for a team overseas. "I want him to go as far in his career as he can. Fans worried I will lead him astray can rest easy," she said.
"I am not the kind who gets possessive about her boyfriend, and I don't want to turn him into a celebrity. I don't need a boyfriend who is handsome or trendy, with fans screaming over him. All I ask is he behaves, and I know Jay is not the kind to play around."
Joining the outpouring of support for the pair, Jay's father, Kongpop Songkrasin, said anyone his son loves, he loves too.
"All I ask is he suffers no loss of form. Now he has a girlfriend he has to play even harder than before. He can't forget he is a poor kid from the provinces who came from nothing and owes everything to football," he said.
TV host 'Kalamare' sues netizen
Television host and writer Patcharasri "Kalamare" Benjamas is taking legal action after an unkind netizen doctored a remark she made criticising men wearing football jerseys in public.
Patcharasri 'Kalamare' Benjamas.
Kalamere has been under attack on football websites after the comment, attributed to her, appeared on social media.
In a humorous article for Matichon Weekly four years ago on fashion tips for men, she pleaded for men to stop wearing football jerseys in public.
The doctored remark, which is taken from the article, has appeared as the Euro 2016 championship begins, when football fever reaches a peak.
"Quit wearing a football jersey when you are walking in the store, can you?" she writes in the original article.
"This is a plea from women all over the country. I know you worship football like a faith; you are delighted with players as if they are gods. But that doesn't mean you have to offer your body by wearing that uniform full-time. Football jerseys belong on the football pitch, not the department store, supermarket or restaurant. There's only one way I would let you wear it around me ... and that's if you have the looks of David Beckham."
In the article, Kalamere also rails against self-important men who wear Bluetooth devices in their ear, phones on the belt, flimsy thongs as general footwear, and dirty, smelly jeans.
In the doctored version, an unkind netizen adds the remark that she finds jerseys in public "embarrassing" and "tasteless".
On websites, Thais have asked why she is so keen to put down football fans.
Reacting to the fuss, Kalamere said she never embellished her comments by suggesting football jersey wearers are embarrassing or tasteless, and has asked a lawyer to take legal action.
"It is an edited excerpt from a story in a magazine," she said.
"I have instructed a lawyer to lay a complaint against the person who doctored my comment, and anyone who spreads it."
Presenter sorry for picture blunder
TV news presenter Kitti Singhapat has apologised for an on-air blue when his producers appeared to confuse boxing great Muhammad Ali, who died this month, with actor Will Smith, who played him in a movie.
Kitti presents the late-night news hour Khao Sam Miti, or News in Three Dimensions, on Channel 3.
As Kitti read a news item about Ali's death on June 4, a graphic or "cutplate", called "Ali dies", appeared behind him.
However, the accompanying image shows not Ali, who was 74 when he died, but the much younger Will Smith, who portrayed his life in the 2001 movie titled Ali.
Fans were unimpressed, asking how the producers could confuse the two. Writing on Instagram about the fuss, Kitti acknowledged the mistake, but said it happened innocently enough.
"Fans asked me how the cutplate which accompanied the item 'Ali dies', could get it so wrong as to put up a picture of Will Smith. Some even ask me if I don't know Will Smith!" he said.
"Let me clarify. Normally, my team captures a cutplate from a news item and makes a graphic from it. We've done it for eight years and never made a mistake.
"In this case, we captured the cutplate from an item by (Channel 3's) Nattawat Ingkavitan. One part of the show referred to Ali's life having been made into a film starring Will Smith.
"That was the origins of the cutplate; they failed to take care when they captured the image from the video. The image of Will Smith appeared as I was reading the news," he said. "I didn't see it as I was reading the item, but as the man in charge I take responsibility."
Kitti Singhapat.
