Photos: Filipino stars Sarah Geronimo, Matteo Guidicelli's defiant love story

Their love story has unspooled like the plot of a romantic thriller, one that you would perhaps see actress-singer Sarah Geronimo star in as the lead. In this case though, the Filipino celebrity starred in her very own love story as she married her long-time boyfriend, actor-singer Matteo Guidicelli last week, amidst an almost villain-like ‘Divine Intervention’ by her mother and a bodyguard who swears he was punched in the face by the groom.

With plenty of plot that had social media abuzz for days, we rewind back to 2014 when Geronimo and Guidicelli — collectively known as #AshMatt — first started dating in 2014. Their love story faced many a hiccup along the way when Geronimo’s mother Divine made it clear that the new man wasn’t a welcome face around the house.

Not one to let the powers that be interfere with their love story, Geronimo, 31, and Guidicelli, 29 officially announced their engagement in November 2019. However, reports indicated the couple had been engaged for a year before the announcement was made.

Shortly after the couple made it official, Guidicelli posted an endearing message on social media where he addressed Geronimo’s parents, promising to take care of their beloved daughter. “Tito Delfin and Tita Divine, if there have been hard feelings or events that were not supposed to happen in the past, I humbly apologize. I assure you that I will give Sarah a happy life with the best of my capabilities. With pure, honest love and respect. We wish to move forward with our life plans and begin this brand new chapter of our life,” Guidicelli posted.

So, what went wrong? The details are a little murky, but several media reports confirmed that the couple, now fed up of the family intervention, decided to elope earlier this month. Rumors of the Guidicelli and Geronimo’s civil wedding finally began to surface on February 20. But with the rumours, came skeletons tumbling out of the closet that Divine Geronimo had taken it upon herself to put a stop to her daughter’s wedding.

According to multiple reports, Divine attempted to stop the wedding, with a Geronimo family bodyguard Jerry Tamara even reporting the groom to the police for allegedly punching him in the neck during the ceremony. The Rappler reported the incident happened at Shangri-La at the Fort in Bonifacio Global City at around 11pm on Thursday.

The news portal further reported that according to the couple’s relationship counselor Letty Fuentes, Divine shouted at the newlyweds, and a scuffle ensued, but Guidicelli did not punch anyone. The groom has also denied Tamara’s allegations.

Meanwhile, the newly married couple couldn’t be happier. In a post on Instagram, Guidicelli expressed his joy. “02 20 2020, A day full of pure love, honesty and genuine emotions. Yes, we got married. Mr and Mrs. Guidicelli, he wrote. “First and foremost, we would like to express the overwhelming joy, love and excitement we have in beginning our life together. We decided to keep everything as intimate as possible because of private matters.”

Addressing the drama that ensued, the groom further wrote: “That evening was almost perfect until some unexpected events took place, but don’t worry I never “punched” anyone. I will forever stand up and protect my wife just as how my father would protect my whole family…. In time, with God’s grace and Love, everything will heal and fall into place.”