Right on the heels of confirming that she is now being officially courted by her former partner Kris Lawrence, actress Katrina Halili accepted an award on the R&B singer’s behalf at the 17th PMPC Star Awards for Music held last Thursday, June 25. Kris won for Male R&B Artist of the Year for his song "Within."
Coming up on stage to accept the award on his behalf, Katrina shared with the crowd, "Ako po si Katrina Halili. Dahil wala po si Kris Lawrence, ako po ang nautusan bilang wala naman po tayong taping (laughs). Isa pong karangalan po para sa akin na tanggapin po ang PMPC Star Awards na ito sa ngalan ni Kris Lawrence na hindi po makakadalo ngayong gabi. Taos puso po ang kanyang pasasalamat sa PMPC para sa pagkilalang ito at sa lahat ng patuloy na sumusuporta sa kanya."
Katrina also shared the message Kris gave her to say on his behalf while accepting the award. “Thank you tatay Vehnee Saturno for always believing in me and Ladine Roxas for the opportunity to collab on this song. At sa lahat po ng sumusuporta sa mga vlogs and showing their love for Katie. Maraming, maraming salamat po."
After their separation in 2014, the former couple delighted netizens earlier this year with signs of a renewed friendship and an admirable co-parenting relationship after sharing photos of Katrina’s January birthday celebration, which included Kris, their daughter Katie, and Kris's younger son, Lyric. In April, Kris and Katrina flew to El Nido, Palawan with Katie to enjoy some leisure time at the beach
Although they initially denied any speculations of a rekindled romance between them after that trip, both artists did admit to a reset of their friendship and were just enjoying each other’s company at present during their joint interview with the King of Talk Boy Abunda on Fast Talk with Boy Abunda last April.
More recently, on the “Today’s Talk” segment of Boy Abunda’s show last June 24, Katrina revealed that she and Kris were now open to the idea of giving each other a second chance, confirming that the singer was now officially courting her.
Fully embracing this new chapter in their family dynamic, Kris (who is currently abroad), admitted in an interview with Hot Takes that he has no plans to waste the opportunity to have a second chance with the mother of his only daughter. He also stressed how much his growing relationship with Katrina has been beneficial to Katie, who was diagnosed with mild autism spectrum disorder (ASD) since the age of three.
“If I’m out of the picture, yung energy balance ni Katie is not going to be all there. You’ll have to draw from other sources. Kung hindi kami okay (ni Kat), hindi rin magiging okay si Katie. I’m very, very grateful [that she] kept me in the decision that we’re co-parenting a hundred percent and everything is so beautiful right now. Napansin namin yung smile, a big shift. Katie’s smile is so much better; it’s so genuine. It almost feels like she does not have autism. I believe it’s because the energy is all back and it’s all whole now. Now she feels love from both parents. I’m there every single day. She sees that me and Kat are happy. The fact that me and Kat are happy, it trickles down to her and it makes her feel secured and loved. The magnitude is just phenomenal.”