Send in your votes! Does Daniella Barretto have a horse face?

According to this Urban Dictionary entry, a person described as having a “horse face” is one who “has a long narrow face with bugly eyes and big teeth.”. The term is frequently used in a derogatory manner, as in: “whoa, that chick has a horse face!”

So the latest showbiz buzz is around Daniella Barretto taking offense after Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, legal counsel to her aunt Claudine Barretto, issued what seems to be a benign tweet that went a bit too far down the horsie side…

Last Tuesday, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio posted on Twitter which read: “Year of the Horse nga pala. This could be Danni Barretto’s year…”

Daniella apparently interpretted that as an allusion to her, shall we say, facial bone structure.

Explaining his side on “The Buzz” after Daniella’s mother, Marjorie, asked him what he was insinuating, Topacio said, “Sa isang website, sinasabi na ‘yung born on the year of the rooster na 1993, katulad ni Ms. Dani Barretto, this is a good year, yung year of the horse. Hindi ko naman malaman bakit ganoon ang reaksyon.”

According to Topacio, he has nothing personal against Daniella. “Why will I do that? What do I have to gain by that?” he said

Well, this just piqued my curiosity even more, and I thought, why not find out for ourselves? So I image-Googled “Daniella Barretto” and pulled out this specimen…

So what do you think, folks?

To be fair, there’s some bit of Inception at work here now, so it’s hard to evaluate the photo now that we’ve got the horse face thing in our minds. But Daniella certainly does not sport bugly eyes or big teeth, though her face is a bit on the long side, I dare say.

I think Daniella should just learn to lighten up. Showbiz is a rough neighborhood and celebs are fair game to such snipes. The only thing that saves many Pinoy celebs is the Philippines’ primitive libel law, which is why we don’t have the local equivalents of celebrity mags like People and a thriving paparazzi equipped with kick-ass telephoto lenses. There are many successful hollywoood celebrities who’ve been cited many times as having a horsey face. There’s Celine Dion, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ted Danson, David Schwimmer, and Tori Spelling among others.

So look on the bright side, Daniella. You’re in good company! Perhaps you just need a more creative makeup artist and a good publicist. Even more important, perhaps keeping your mouth shut would’ve done you a great deal of good in this instance. Ayan tuloy, everyone will now be looking at you under a horsie light. Then again, being a Barretto, keeping your mouth shut probably ain’t in your DNA. Too bad.