Destitute and jobless, Billy Ogan writes a tune

The Isara news agency broke the story, publishing the formal declaration from the October 21 Royal Gazette. 

Billy hasn’t said much so far, other than informing his followers on Facebook of the bad news, which he blames on a bum real-estate deal. “The court declared me bankrupt on July 7, but it’s just been announced in the Royal Gazette,” he writes. “I did a property project and failed to manage it financially.” 

The court issued its finding on August 14, having determined that Billy “has no occupation”. His personal bankruptcy shut down two firms he’d registered. 

It’s not as bad as it sounds, Billy seems to say online. “I’ve written a song titled ‘Lom-lalai’ [which means “bankruptcy”] and when it’s ready it will be played during a TV interview with me.” Let’s hope the tune earns him some money! 

But Billy doesn’t say if he’s actually lined up an interview or, if so, what show or what channel would be handling it. He just urges people give him some slack on the financial end. 

As for that “no occupation” thing, he wants to get a job on television. “A digital TV channel approached me sometime back, but that’s gone quiet,” he says. So he’s living “la vida humilitas”, merely grateful that his wife has been totally understanding and stands by his side.

 

 

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“Tomboy” still a beauty

It’s customary for former beauty queens to become actresses or singers or stuff like that, but 2006 Miss Thailand Lalana “Jeab” Kongtoranin has returned to the headlines after a long absence by “becoming a tomboy”. 

Whereas ex-winners of beauty pageants tend to keep their long tresses and fancy feminine attire, Jeab has cut her hair short and prefers jeans and T-shirts. Photos of her then and now have been circulating on the social media and the regular news, along with the revelation that she’s now a dentist at a state hospital. No one cares about that, though – only the way she looks. 

Jeab is still good-looking, for sure. It’s just that now she’s more on the “handsome” side. Most people are just finding out, too, that Coconuts Bangkok last month named her among “Thailand’s Top 10 Hottest Toms on Instagram”, a distinction she’s not too crazy about. 

“No one should brand anyone else,” she says. “I am myself, I am Jeab and I love wearing jeans and sneakers and I don’t like wearing makeup. Am I a tomboy? I don’t think so – I’m Jeab!” So the former beauty queen has given up on beauty, but she points out that she entered the pageant in the first place because she wanted to open a free clinic for needy folks. “I think fame can help pave the way to your dreams,” she said at the time. 

Not quite achieving that particular dream, Jeap has come pretty close. She financially supports four people in their lives, having begun while she was still a medical student by helping an elderly woman survive. Another is an orphan, another a completely paralysed person, and the last a man who wanted to attend medical school but couldn’t afford it. 

So Jeab is sticking to her motto, as shared a long time ago in a TV interview. Spread the wealth, she said, because, “When we die there’s nothing we can take with us.”