She’s blessed with all the qualities of a winner — tall, svelte, articulate and even pedigreed in pageant lineage as the daughter of former beauty queen Melanie Marquez. But this year’s Miss Universe Philippines titleholder had to wait for one more sign before strapping on her pageant heels one more time in her bid to win the crown.
By Alex Y. Vergara
Photography by Mark Chester Ang
The year 2022 will go down every Filipino beauty pageant fanatic’s book as a bad year for the Philippines at Miss Universe. For the first time since 2010, the country’s 12-year placement streak was broken with Celeste Cortesi’s non-placement in New Orleans.
Suddenly, Filipinos saw for themselves that the Philippines no longer has a free pass at Miss Universe, and that the country’s much-vaunted “sash factor,” once a sure ticket for our bets to go the distance, has been diminished.
But Miss Universe Philippines (MUP) 2023 Michelle Marquez Dee, the country’s pambato (bet) in El Salvador, sees it differently. In fact, with the way things are right now at Miss Universe, the 5’10”-stunner sees herself at an advantage, giving her a fighting chance to reclaim the crown for the country and present it as her pre-Christmas gift to Filipinos.
Melanie’s daughter
The fact that she’s the daughter of Miss International 1979 Melanie Marquez has nothing do with it. No one really cares about her beauty queen pedigree abroad. Believe it or not, Michelle says, as she sits down with PeopleAsia for this interview, a good number of her supporters didn’t even know that the legendary Melanie, whose statuesque height and svelte figure she inherited, is her mother up until she was crowned MUP last May.
Really? What planet were they living on? Melanie, after jacking up her age by several years and handily winning the Miss International title in Tokyo at 15, is the stuff of legend — from her looks and unmatched catwalk skills down to her unapologetic ways, including her colorful love life and those endearing malapropisms.
“I don’t know,” Michelle, Melanie’s second daughter with former husband Derek Dee, says cheerily. “Of course, being my mom’s daughter has its advantages. Well, for one, I’m contented with my ‘long-legged.’”
Michelle then bursts into laughter after paraphrasing her mom’s unforgettable “I love my long-legged” line that not only sealed her fate during the local pageant, but also marked the start of a string of “Melanie-isms” from one of the country’s most celebrated titleholders.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she quickly explains. “My mom’s okay about it. She’s an amazing woman and my role model. Her fighting spirit, her sense of competitiveness, her being strong-willed and never giving up — I got all those traits from her. I’m proud to be my mother’s daughter!”
Asked what her mom’s best advice was in her quest to win MUP, Michelle readily shares the secret with us before again laughing out loud, “Baklain mo!” Taken literally, it means “approach it like a gay person.” Of course, what Melanie really meant was for her daughter to have fun while being confidently beautiful and unapologetic on stage.
“My mom has always been the queen of gays,” she says. “One of the many pieces of advice she gave me is to enjoy every moment while competing because you can’t bring those moments back anymore. I think that’s one of the main differences between my first pageant and my last one.”
Sweet and casual
While Michelle seemed to appear cold and guarded to many pageant observers during her two previous outings, this time around, she appeared happier and more relaxed without losing that queenly stance.
She admits that she has yet to fully shake off that cold, seemingly stand-offish vibe she unconsciously radiates on stage, but the young lady, judging from her sweet and casual demeanor up close and in person, has made tremendous progress in the approachability department.
“I think such an impression is just partly the result of my upbringing, where I had to grow up very fast,” she says. “But after people get to meet me, that impression soon goes away. This year, I just want people to know my story, where I’m coming from. I want to tell them that I’m no different from everybody else.”
She has also been vocal about the occasional disharmony within her family and her two strong-willed parents while growing up. “I’m happy to say that my mom and my dad are now the best of friends. I have no problem with them. Sana lang ’wag na silang magbalikan. (I just hope they don’t reconcile.) Let’s just keep it the way it is,” she says with a chuckle.
Michelle’s eloquence and flawless command of English, after spending part of her formative years in the United States, may help her in the make-or-break question-and-answer round at Miss Universe. But she’s aware of the fact that she’s just one among many articulate girls being sent to the small Central American country to vie for the crown.
Her previous pageant experience, of course, will come in handy. Prior to winning MUP 2023, Michelle competed locally in 2019 and won the right to represent the Philippines later that year in London at Miss World, landing in the top 12. Dusting off her pageant heels once more, she again competed at MUP last year, finishing second to Celeste.
In hindsight, Michelle learned several life lessons from her painful defeat at MUP. “After bagging Miss World Philippines during my first-ever attempt at pageantry, I think it’s important for me to know how it feels to lose,” she says. “Because when you try again, your drive to succeed becomes so much more.”
She also felt that she was putting her energy in the wrong places last year. “I wasn’t very strategic with regards to when and how to plan. Time management wasn’t my best friend, and it reflected in my performance.”
One of the first persons who encouraged Michelle to join again was Celeste, who eventually became her friend during the latter’s reign. Although she was open to joining MUP one last time, Michelle wasn’t completely sold on the idea. Despite her Western upbringing, she is still as Filipino as they come, believing in signs and asking a higher power for one before deciding whether she should join again or not.
To top it all, the last few months proved to be a difficult time for Michelle, a GMA talent, as she juggled her time between doing a teleserye, among other commitments, and managing two households as her parents were both sick.
“I went through a lot of difficult situations in the run-up to this year’s contest,” she shares. “In the end, I left it all to the universe to give me a sign.”
The sign
For her, that sign came when it became apparent that Miss Universe Organization’s newfound focus under Thai owner Anne Jakrajutatip was on advocacy. It was like a lightbulb moment for the 28-year-old Psychology graduate from the De La Salle University. Suddenly, becoming a force for good and a “transformational leader,” a phrase the organization loves to harp on these days, are no longer vague.
If anyone knows what real honest-to-goodness advocacy work is all about, it’s Michelle. As the sister of two half-brothers — Mazen and Adam — who were diagnosed within the autism spectrum, she has made it her mission to “grab almost every opportunity to advocate for autism.” Her siblings’ condition, in a way, also influenced Michelle to take up Psychology in college and, perhaps, after her showbiz and pageant days are over, further pursue post-graduate and doctoral degrees in the field.
As a goodwill ambassador of the Autism Society of the Philippines for four years now, she’s at the forefront of creating an “autism-open nation” through education, acceptance and inclusivity. As such, she has participated in helping the society create pillar programs where they place individuals with autism to become full-time employees in several big corporations such as SM Supermarket, Pancake House and Max’s, among others.
“The difference with our approach is we just don’t leave them and the companies that took them in after they get hired. If both parties have any concerns, they can talk to us. We just want to make sure that both individuals and their families as well as the companies feel secure,” says Michelle.
Apart from creating autism awareness, they have also come up with programs that are beneficial to both people with autism and their families. The society is also quite vocal about autism in the public sphere, especially in pushing for the passage of bills beneficial to the often-marginalized group. All these are geared towards making sure that individuals with autism are diagnosed early, paving the way for them to receive early intervention, proper healthcare and education.
“It’s also about sparking the right conversations. Just being a representative of the (autism) community already sparks a lot of questions from other people that I love answering. Of course, sparking conversations is one thing. Making sure that they see our concrete efforts, whether on social media or on a government level, is quite another,” she says.
And then there’s her vocal support for the ever-growing and increasingly diverse LGBTQIA+ community. Even before publicly coming out as a bisexual woman soon after winning MUP, Michelle had already been supportive of this group.
No sooner had she been crowned when old pictures of her appearing tomboyish with other girls her age started circulating on social media. Just like almost every post that has gone viral, the people behind the posting of such pictures had already become murky. What was obvious was her detractors’ malicious intent to create stories, both real and imagined, about Michelle that invariably put her in a questionable light.
She didn’t have to come out, she says. After all, what a person does in private is her own business. But she’s also not the type who would sit idly by and allow others to take total control of the narrative. Especially if such narratives are designed to demonize or ruin a person’s reputation. Her bisexual orientation, she adds, has been an “open secret” among immediate family members, close friends and long-time mentors.
“I simply wanted to take control of the narrative,” says Michelle. “I wanted people to hear my story from me instead of hearing it from others who may have their own theories and agendas. Speaking out my truth is also an important way for me to empower the community, not to allow other people to take away their stories, out them without their consent, or disrespect their persons and how they view life.”
As a transformational queen, Michelle believes that people shouldn’t be defined and judged by how they identify themselves. Instead, they should be seen and measured for the good that they constantly choose to do for themselves and for others.
Art direction by Dexter Francis de Vera
Makeup by Dave Quiambao
Hair by Mark Ibarrola
Styling by Steven Coralde of Qurator Studio, assisted by Renz Allapitan
