Wed in 60 seconds: Ae does the right thing, sort of
Well thank heaven something came along that was more important than the amnesty-bill debate in Parliament.
More than 200 reporters and cameramen heaved a collective sigh of relief yesterday when they were reassigned to Chonsawat “Ae” Asavahame’s house to get the scoop on his emergency wedding to actress Janie Thienphosuvan.
Facing death beneath an avalanche of curiosity over why they were hanging around with each other so much, Janie and fugitive ex-politician Vatana Asavahame’s eldest son got married at 9.09 yesterday morning.
Ae explained that he’d been separated from singer Nantida Kaewbuasai for ages – and anyway they’d never even registered their marriage, so legally they weren’t. A lot of showbiz eyeballs popped at that – everybody had always just assumed they were husband and wife. Ae said he and Janie have been seeing each other for five months.
Twitter, Instagram and Facebook went nuts, as is their wont, sharing every snippet, every photo and every quip in response. Pictures of Ae and Janie holding their marriage certificate got more circulation than a Las Vegas hooker. Photographer Amat Nimitpak got the shot and had it online by noon, captioning it “Happy day” and drawing 200-plus “likes” – only to delete it within the hour.
Nantida wisely headed overseas with their daughter before things hit the fan. Ae said he’d just been waiting for the right timing to inform the public, but indicators trickled out, including a photo of them with his father in Macau. That was the day Janie met the old man, Ae said. “He’s the man I respect the most, so I wanted him to see her.”
Janie apologised for not being up front with the truth until now. She’d agreed with Ae that they should hold off a bit. In a show of good cheer, they gave every member of the press baseball caps like the ones they’d been seen wearing in leaked pictures, bearing the letters AJ. And, heading off any jumping to conclusions, Ae stated firmly that they hadn’t married because Janie is pregnant. He even displayed the results of a pregnancy test.
Janie’s “Angel Gang” of girlfriends swiftly sent congratulations. It’s still not clear whether Virithipa “Woonsen” Yamnarm and Paula Taylor Buttery knew what was going on despite their denials to the press, but Woonsen re-posted the certificate photo and told Janie, “Be strong be happy.”
Janie’s fans had mixed feelings about the “lightning wedding” – some now see her as a marriage wrecker – but they’re all swapping jokes, mostly about Janie playing an adulterer in the hit TV series “Rang Ngao”. The show should be retitled “Rang Ngern” (“money power” rather than “shadow power”), someone said, and soon enough there was a YouTube music video by that name with the lyrics digitally altered.
Meanwhile back at Parliament, opposition MP Chuvit Kamolvisith could see that all the booing and playing with shoes was getting nowhere. “Let’s end this talk,” he said. “Nobody is listening.”
