Gary Valenciano reveals truths about Coco Martin, James Reid in new podcast ‘Unshaken’

Shot at home and stripped of pretense, ‘Unshaken’ delivers stories that hit deeper than any interview before.

Even after decades in the industry, Gary Valenciano still found himself caught off guard—not by strangers, but by the very people he thought he already knew. 

Sitting across familiar faces like James Reid and Coco Martin for his new podcast “Unshaken,” the OPM icon discovered stories that stopped him mid-conversation: confessions, struggles, and perspectives that had never surfaced in past interviews. 

And if Gary, of all people, is hearing these for the first time, chances are the rest of us aren’t ready for what’s about to be revealed. 

Nowhere was this more evident than in his conversation with Coco, who arrived with longtime partner Julia Montes quietly by his side. What unfolded left Gary visibly stunned.

“After he spoke, I was dumbfounded,” Gary admitted. “I was like, seriously? This is how much you do and how much you care? From where you came from to what you’ve become—it could make people bitter, but it made you better.”

Unfiltered conversations with industry icons

Gary recalled how Julia would occasionally step in to help bridge gaps in language, but the spotlight never strayed far from Coco’s honesty. “What I saw on camera is exactly what I got in the studio,” Gary said. “He was as real as he can be.”

That same sense of revelation extended to other guests, according to Angeli Pangilinan, Gary’s wife and longtime manager. “James Reid… we were all in shock,” she shared. “Not because he’s one of the most handsome young performers today, but the depth of his mind, his thinking, and his openness. Everybody just fell in love with him after that.”

She added that even industry veteran Martin Nievera showed a different side. “We all know Martin as brusco, but this was a soft Martin. We were all crying. It was something we didn’t expect.”

For Gary, these moments are exactly what “Unshaken” is built for: a space that strips away the usual gloss of celebrity interviews.

“There’s no showbiz,” he emphasized. “Even if you’re from showbiz, when you come in, it’s home.”

Shot inside his own studio in Antipolo City, the podcast begins not with cameras, but with connection—often over a shared meal. By the time the recording starts, the walls are down.

Take his experience with celebrity chef and content creator Abi Marquez, whom he had never met prior to the podcast. “I just followed her on Instagram,” Gary said, laughing. “But when she came and we sat down and talked, I felt like, okay, this is a good decision.”

The same openness shaped his conversation with basketball legend Jojo Lastimosa. “It’s really about going down into the heart of the person,” Gary explained. “Not just shallow talk. When you dig deep, that’s when you hear things that stay with you.”

Stepping into the role of listener

In a media landscape dominated by bite-sized content, “Unshaken” deliberately slows things down—favoring depth over virality, and sincerity over spectacle. 

But stepping into that role—of listener, prober, and emotional anchor—didn’t come naturally to Gary. In fact, it terrified him. “My initial reaction was, can I actually do it?” he admitted. “I’m not sure if I have it.”

For someone so used to being interviewed, the shift felt almost unnatural. “If someone else was interviewing me, it would be easy,” he said. “But now I’m the one leading. That scared me.”

Angeli echoed that hesitation, revealing just how much convincing it took behind the scenes. “We thought about it a hundred million times,” she said. “Gary has never done this before. He would always say, ‘I’m not a host.’”

And yet, despite the doubt, something clicked the moment the conversations began.

“It’s not really a show,” Gary reflected. “It’s a moment between you and someone you want people to know about.”