Contributed by: Chris

Rejected, but not crushed
GREG 'UTT' UTTSADA
WHEN he was 7, the Thai-American heart-throb became infatuated with a 9-year-old girl who lived 'a few houses away' in his California neighbourhood.
20 March 2005
By Jeanmarie Tan

GREG 'UTT' UTTSADA

WHEN he was 7, the Thai-American heart-throb became infatuated with a 9-year-old girl who lived 'a few houses away' in his California neighbourhood.

Utt, 31, recalled: 'I can even remember her name. Aimee Parazo. Wow. I haven't said her name in over 10 years. Funny how you remember these things.'

They played together with the other kids, but he found himself spending more time with Aimee - who's half-Filipino, half-Caucasian - 'even when she was collecting stickers and butterflies and crap like that, and I ended up doing that too!'.

Utt compared their relationship to the Thai film My Girl.

He said: 'I don't think I knew it was a crush. I fell into a friendship without understanding how I came to have these feelings. Like I'd get whiny and my reaction would be more extreme than normal.

'Only later in life did I figure out that was probably my first crush!'

Utt carried the torch for two years, but they eventually stopped talking because of a 'trivial' reason.

'She told me I was just a little kid and not mature, and told me to grow up. I went into the pouty thing and that killed it.'

Utt last saw Aimee briefly in high school - where she was a cheerleader with 'puffy curly hair'.

Although he thinks it's 'quite cute' to have something like that to look back on, he insisted there's 'zero chance' of a reunion should she re-appear in his life now.

Not only is she married, he added: 'I'm different from Gabriel (his character in Chase) in that once I move forward, I don't go back. I like to try new things.'

But he would know exactly what to say to her if they did get to meet.

He said: 'I'll tell her, 'Remember you said I was just a kid? Well, look at me now!'

'Whenever I go back to the US, a lot of my childhood friends are surprised at what I'm doing now, as I was quite shy then.'

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