Girlfriend of no-show groom says she gave him permission to marry jilted bride

The story of a young bride who live-streamed her own ditching at the altar on Sunday has taken yet another twist, with the would-be groom’s 35-year-old girlfriend (he’s 18) now saying she had given him permission to marry the heartbroken lass.

Not that she’s stopped dating him or anything.

As Thai netizens continue to revel in the sordid tale, “Am,” a divorcee and single mother of a 12-year-old boy, spoke to media yesterday, with her boyfriend, Phakin Joonjerm, by her side. (Yes, friends, he’s just six years older than her son.)

“He came asking for my permission to marry her,” Am told Amarin TV. “He said he got a woman pregnant.”

“I am a woman, too — and a single mom. So I understand that,” she said.

Heartbroken, Am gave Pakhin permission to go ahead and marry Jutathip Nimnual, the 25-year-old bride in question whose heartbroken announcement to guests has been viewed more than 5 million times since it was posted.

Phakin has since claimed he was pressured into a shotgun wedding because Jutathip said she was carrying his unborn child.

Am yesterday said that she had cut all contact with Pakhin after finding out he might have knocked up another woman, only to get back together before the wedding — which may have had something to do with his chickening out.

Claiming to have dealt with Pakhin‘s many infidelities in the past year they’ve known each other, his decision did not come as a shock, Am said, although she claimed to have no knowledge of his relationship with Jutathip before being told about the alleged pregnancy.

“Men are just unfaithful, right?” Am said. “When I’m out of town, I don’t know how many girls he’s brought to the house.”

For her part, Juthathip has now admitted that the wedding was, in fact, a bid to save face rather than true romance, and that the couple had no intention of staying together after the public ceremony.

“The wedding date was set. The invitations were sent out. I’ve hired a band and caterers,” Juthatip told Khaosod. “So our deal was that he would attend the wedding ceremony, and after that we would go our separate ways.”

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