Remember when supermodel Tyra Banks tweeted “Pinoy Power to the max” after seeing Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray’s famed lava walk at the beauty pageant last year? Well, know that the two are still not over it, as seen in the latest issue of fashion magazine V.
Banks interviewed the Filipina beauty queen for a story published online yesterday and talked about a variety of topics including the December pageant, the importance of education, and dealing with haters.
“My mindset wasn’t, ‘what if I don’t win?’ It was an attitude of gratitude,” Gray said about her Miss Universe experience, adding that she was grateful just to be at the pageant.
Banks couldn’t help but fangirl and told Gray that she was still not over the beauty queen’s signature lava walk.
“I just kept watching and rewatching, like, What’s her secret? I was totally fangirling,” Banks said.
Gray, in turn, said she freaked out when she saw the notifications from Banks’ tweet. She recalled the moment she saw the tweet, saying: “Oh my gosh, Tyra Banks just tweeted about my walk!”
“You writing ‘Pinoy Power’ was a proud moment for me and all Filipinos,” Gray told Banks.
In the interview, Banks asked Gray about what she would tell her haters and those who doubted her.
Gray said that she does not understand the need to bring people down. “It’s such a good feeling to celebrate and lift each other up. I would just tell them to look at their own life and how they treat other people. Maybe their perspective is a negative one, but life is too short.”
She also shared that while Filipinos love pageants, it was never her dream to become a beauty queen. For her, it’s all about the advocacies.
“I entered a pageant at 21 to bring awareness to the charity I was working for, and still work for.”
The charity is Young Focus Philippines, which is based in the poor neighborhood Tondo, Manila.
Gray went on to say: “The place itself is not very beautiful; it’s known as a garbage dump, and many of the families there make a living by scavenging. Most of the houses are made from scavenged materials and children play with things that they find in the trash. I had never experienced poverty first hand, and it impacted me so hard.”
For her, this is why education is important — because it can help alleviate poverty.
“We work giving free schooling to these children. Education is a solution to poverty; it’s something you can give a child that can never be taken away,” Gray said.
Gray also talked about Tondo in the Miss Universe pageant’s final question round.
“Their life there is … it’s poor and very sad. And I’ve always taught myself to look for the beauty of it, to look for beauty in the faces of the children and to be grateful. And I would bring this aspect as a Miss Universe, to see situations with a silver lining,” she said.
Gray gushed about her interview with Banks on Instagram yesterday and called the supermodel “a humble and empowering woman.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw9wZrynbaQ/
She also said that the interview was definitely a “pinch-me moment.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw9okf7neDT/
