Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto: When Love Doesn’t Have to Belong

Julia Barretto was the first to arrive at our shoot. She walked into the room, bare-faced and smiling, and greeted us all with a “good morning” before making her way into the glam area. Then came Joshua Garcia, just as unassuming, exchanging hellos and shaking hands with almost every one of us as he took his seat right next to Julia.

For the next hour or so, the two barely spoke. No banter, no kulitan, not even small talk — just him and her side by side, both in their own worlds as their glam teams worked on them. It was quite a rare sight for someone like me who only ever sees JoshLia being playful with each other in public. Yet there wasn’t the slightest hint of awkwardness, either. They seemed comfortable simply being in the same room.

It brought me back to the press conference for their film, Always Yours, Never Mine, the day before. Julia had shared that what makes their partnership work is knowing exactly when to talk and when to give each other room to breathe. Watching them sit in silence then, I understood what she meant.

After a decade of knowing each other, Joshua and Julia have probably learned that keeping someone close doesn’t always mean having to be around them all the time. Sometimes, you just have to know when to give each other space, too.

And when it was finally their turn to shoot together, the two remained as focused, carrying that same ease as they posed for the camera.

There’s this certain intimacy in being able to sit in silence with someone without feeling the need to fill it — a kind of comfort you don’t easily have with just anyone.

And so, I find myself asking them: “What is great love to you, and does it mean ending up with that person?”

“Not necessarily,” Julia answers. To which Joshua is quick to add, “Hindi naman ’pag sinabing great love, kayo talaga ’yung magkakatuluyan.”

For the two of them, what makes love great isn’t how long it lasts or what lingers after it ends. Rather, it’s about the impact it leaves on both people — the way it changes you and how you understand not just love, but also yourself.

“After mo lang mare-realize na, ‘Ah, great love pala ’yon,’” Joshua says.

Julia unhesitatingly agrees. She believes a great love leaves something “so lasting that it molds you” into the person you eventually become and “teaches you how to love today.”

It’s a sentiment that mirrors how their working relationship has evolved over the past decade. They started as 18- and 19-year-olds finding their footing in Vince and Kath and James, eventually becoming the New Gen Ultimate Leading Man and Leading Lady they are today. Their undeniable chemistry and acting prowess — which I admittedly became a fan of, too — made people fall in love with them as JoshLia.

But just like any other on-screen pair, there came a point when they felt the need to step out of their love team. They took on projects separately, making room for themselves to grow both as actors and individuals. Now, they’re back together again, two years after their first reunion in 2024 for Unhappy For You.

When asked whether it’s still their old selves that they see in each other, Julia says: “I think it’s how much we’ve changed.”

Though sometimes, Joshua adds, the younger, more playful versions of themselves naturally come out. “‘Pag sabaw na kami sa shoot, lumalabas ‘yung pagkabata namin, nagiging makulit kami. Nandu’n pa rin ‘yung young sa amin, pero ang dami [na] ring nagbago.”

One thing that would surprise 2016 JoshLia, they say, is just how much they’ve “matured.”

Julia describes their younger selves as passionate, while Joshua recalls how “intensely” they used to love.

“Mas chill na,” the actor says. “Dati kasi, bigay lang nang bigay.”

“Ngayon, mature na, kalmado na?” I reply. 

“May tinitira na para sa sarili namin,” Joshua responds.

“Self-preservation,” adds Julia.

I guess it’s true what they say — people do grow up when they grow apart. The two acknowledge that the time they spent away from each other gave them the space to understand what they couldn’t have when they were younger.

“Ako, I think ‘yung pagka-straightforward niya, kasi dati, parang feeling ko, ‘Ah, nag-a-attitude ba ’to?’” Joshua shares. But now, he understands it as simply part of who she is — someone who isn’t afraid to express what she feels and means every word she says.

For Julia, the question somehow brings her back to the kind of love they once shared.

“When you’re [young], I guess the root of everything is love,” she starts. “But we’re not able to communicate as well as we probably can today.”

Before the actress could finish the thought that would soon leave the JoshLia fan in me a little touched, Joshua reaches over to fix a few stray strands of hair from her face, making her stop mid-sentence.

“Kinikilig ako,” Julia couldn’t help but giggle. “Inaano ko ’yung moment.”

“Sayang naman ’yung exposure mo, [eh],” Joshua answers ever so casually.

Julia pauses, then finally continues: “I guess everything that [was] happening within the partnership was coming from a place of love. And maybe we were misunderstanding each other then. But now, having learned more about love, I guess we just loved each other so much.”

Let’s be honest: it’s not every day that you see a person staying close to someone they used to be with. While what Joshua and Julia have today may no longer be the same, a huge part of why they still work so well together is the friendship they built “first and foremost.”

Whether on or off-camera, “We’re not forcing na, ‘Kailangan may chemistry tayo,’” says Joshua. “Just being there for each other is enough.”

“I guess we have such a good foundation because I want the best for you, and you want the best for me,” Julia adds, turning to her on-screen partner. “I truly care about you and how you feel, and I just want you to be happy.”

Ten years and counting, they admit there’s still so much they learn from each other.

Joshua tends to overthink his work. Acting opposite Julia has taught him to just trust her and their director — and, more importantly, as the actress chimes in, “trust yourself.”

It’s quite the same for Julia, who has moments when she gets too lost in her head on set. Joshua reminds her, “Don’t overthink it. Just let your heart feel it.”

The way they look out for each other doesn’t stop when the cameras do, but unfolds even beyond the takes. Thanks to his on-screen partner, Joshua has been learning to live with the fact that he doesn’t always have to prove himself to other people, while for Julia, the actor has taught her the value of patience, especially in moments when “it’s so easy to lose it.” Through the ways they’ve grown, they’ve found a balance that comes from knowing each other all too well.

Which makes me wonder: if they were meeting for the first time today, would they still be drawn to each other?

Julia, quite taken aback by the question, first reacts with, “Wow.”

Joshua answers almost at the same time as the actress. “For sure. You’re very attractive,” he says, looking at Julia. “She’s beautiful and smart. Parang, sino ba namang hindi?” the actor adds, turning to the men on our set with a grin. “Right, boys?”

Julia returns the compliment with the same certainty. “Of course, Josh has this certain charm [that], without even speaking, everybody’s already so drawn to him. Most importantly, he has such a great heart, and he is so grounded. He’s so easy to love and get along with.”

2016 me would never have thought I’d still be hearing things like this from JoshLia 10 years later. But maybe that’s what sets their bond apart. After everything, they can still make your heart flutter with their unguarded moments together without overstepping boundaries — proving just how much better they understand each other now than their younger, “immature” selves ever could.

“We’ve been through the good and bad, the happy and sad, and all the milestones that we’ve shared together,” Julia says, almost matter-of-factly. “It’s very rare and unique to have shared a lot of those things with a person.”

Would it be fair to say, then, that what they have is a kind of great love?

“Yeah, I think so,” Joshua says, before jokingly giving me a warning: “PARCINQ!”

Julia, while playing along, agrees: “It [is] a form of great love.”

A decade of ups and downs and in-betweens later, this is where JoshLia finds themselves: in a kind of great love that doesn’t necessarily mean a happy ending or follow the cliché of the love story we’ve come to know—or hope for on-screen partners like them to have in real life.

Instead, it is one that can endure change and allow two people to grow into better versions of themselves.

And maybe, after all this time, that’s what Always Yours, Never Mine means for Joshua and Julia: you don’t have to belong to someone to know they’ll always have a place in your life.

“We’re lucky we have that.”

—

The PARCINQ Team

Photography by Jyllan Bitalac with Sherie Bolo
Creative Direction by Joe Andy
Cover Story and Interview by Currie Cator
Fashion Film by Selwyn Retrita
Film Assistance by Karl Joseph Ilagan

Produced by Cha Canicosa
Production Assistance by Hence Laren Bayson, Miah Cariaga
BTS and Documentation by Lewer Muñoz, Gian Lee
Production Interns: Josh Gatapia, Kirby Flores, Ami Pereyra, Zuriel Mercado

For Joshua Garcia:
Hair and Makeup by Ryan Panaligan
Styling by David Milan

For Julia Barretto:
Makeup by Denise Ochoa
Hair by Anton Papa
Styling by Cath Sobrevega
Styling Assistance by Angel Zamora, Jem Arboleda

Sponsor and Location: The Sanctuary Bar, Quezon City