Sa interview sa kanya ng Pop Cinema ay nilinaw ni Ria na magkaibigan lang sila ni Joshua.
Nag-umpisang ma-link sina Joshua at Ria dahil sa larawan nila ng kanyang mga barkada na kung saan sila ang magpartner.
Ang mga kasama kasi nila ay ang couple na sina Daniel Padilla at Kathryn Bernardo at sina Sofia Andres at Daniel Miranda.
"We laughed about it. It's actually like something, 'uy rumored boyfriend halika rito.' Like, I mean, we are friends" sabi ni Ria
Paliwanag pa ni Ria, naging close raw sila ni Joshua dahil magkatrabaho raw ang kanyang ina na si Sylvia Sanchez at ang actor sa seryeng "The Greatest Love" noong 2016.
"I am super super comfortable with him. Because nga he is my mom's grandson in 'The Greatest Love' and because of that he actually celebrated Christmas with us that year and we're close. Like we just don't post about each other or anything. Pero 'yun nga we're close because of that," Atayde said.
"Things got busy pero we always keep in touch throughout the years. Then kasi we are also working together on 'Viral' so you know lot of reasons to hang out. And he also just recently started playing golf with the boys of my friend group. Now he is part of it as well. So it's really just that."
Ayon pa kay Ria, hindi raw ito ang unang pagkakataon na malink siya sa isang artista.
"You know I've been teased with Dominic Roque and Marco Gumabao. So I guess whoever is single naman nilalagay nila sa akin. Regardless kung sino, gets ko naman guys. Single nga, gets na gets,"