BY ALEX Y. VERGARA
Her reign may long be over, but the country’s third Miss Universe keeps on surprising her fans and compatriots, and even sometimes herself. Her career as a global influencer and celebrity endorser has taken several twists and turns, including her decision to take a stab at writing a novel loosely based on her life. On the home front, Mrs. Jauncey couldn’t be any happier as she spends the rest of her life with husband Jeremy.
Of the many quotable quotes Pia Wurtzbach-Jauncey said during her reign as Miss Universe, one line still stands out today, eight years after she ended the country’s 42-year title drought in said beauty contest: “You’re only Miss Universe for one year.”
Spoken with such candor and wisdom, the line should resonate today not only among the country’s current and future crop of beauty queens, but for everybody else whose tenure in life, whatever that may be, is temporary. Now that you’ve won the crown, how do you maximize your short reign as Miss Universe? But more importantly, what do you do with your life after the ephemeral trappings of such a man-made title disappear one by one as soon as you pass on the crown? How do you stay relevant?
“I’ve always been mindful since I started joining beauty pageants that there are more losers than winners,” Pia shares with PeopleAsia inside the Rizal Park Hotel’s posh Presidential Suite after spending the entire afternoon with several creative teams in a series of photo shoots accompanying this story. “After all, there’s only one crown. Kapag nanalo ka ba, ibig sabihin ba talo na talaga ’yung iba? (If you win, does that mean that the rest really lose?). Because there are countless women who went home empty-handed in pageants but were still able to make something out of their lives. Some have become successful actors, models, doctors, businesswomen. Some enter politics.”
Not Pia!
And there are also countless winners out there whom the world didn’t hear of anymore soon after they relinquished their titles. Some, because of poor post-pageant career and life choices, eventually fizzled out, unable to sustain public interest in them. And then there are those who are simply unlucky in life. Well, not Pia!
From the way things have turned out for her, Pia, it seems, has got it all figured out. After paving the way for other local aspiring beauty queens, making the road to their own quest for an international beauty title much easier because of her win, Pia has seamlessly moved on, cementing her position not only as a global celebrity with nearly 15 million followers on Instagram, but also a relevant one who continues to hold the public’s attention on whatever she sets her mind to.
“At the same time, it’s harder now, especially for those joining Miss Universe, because the requirements — from your social media postings and photo shoots to your advocacy work — are bigger,” she says. If they want to break away from the pack, they should work with a good team and begin to immerse early on in their chosen advocacies.
“But during my time,” she continues, “it wasn’t easy either. I also had to deal with certain challenges because creative teams then weren’t as interested or as open as they are now in helping aspiring beauty queens. I had to be creative and persistent even just to get a test shoot or a magazine feature. It was a constant struggle on my part to think of ways to make pasabog (capture people’s attention) as I prepare for Miss Universe.”
How come? Prior to Pia’s victory, the last time the country won Miss Universe was in 1973. Filipinos didn’t expect much from her and her immediate predecessors, consigning them yet again to a growing list of “thank you girls” (unplaced bets) from the Philippines. But, thanks to Pia, all that changed almost overnight.
“But I must also give credit to the women who came before me — Venus, Shamcey, Janine, Ara and MJ. Nagtanim din sila (they also paved the way for others). In the end, winning is still all about destiny,” she says.
A special year
The year 2023, especially, has been an eventful one for Pia. Early this year, she married businessman Jeremy Jauncey, her boyfriend of two years, in a picturesque wedding ceremony in the Seychelles. The two now call Dubai, Jeremy’s main place of business, home. But the couple also jets regularly to London, where Pia’s mother and younger sister and her family are based and, of course, Manila, where the bulk of Pia’s work as a sought-after endorser and budding businesswoman happens.
And just last September, Pia added yet another title to her growing list of accomplishments, becoming a certified book author with the release of her very first novel, dubbed Queen of the Universe.
A “chick lit” story, as she describes it, the book, which is written in English, invariably mirrors parts of her life, including her own struggles on her way to winning the crown. Response to the book, a joint venture between Tuttle and ABS-CBN Publishing, has been quite positive, making all the hard work she has put into it, not to mention the series of pandemic-related delays before its launch, worth it.
“It’s a fun read, giving readers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the glitz and glamour of modeling, acting, showbiz and the pageant world. And because it’s loosely based on my life story, I think people are interested in trying to figure out which parts are real and which parts are fiction,” she says.
The story revolves around Cleo, a frustrated actress and model who lives with her mother and sister, which is very much where Pia once was before she joined Binibining Pilipinas in 2013, trying again twice before eventually bagging the top prize in 2015 that earned for her the chance to represent the country at Miss Universe.
“But as you go through the story, you realize that Cleo goes on a different journey that poses a different set of challenges,” Pia continues. “Near the end, she must make some weighty decisions. What does winning really mean to her? What is more important? So, her values are tested.”
No, there won’t be any Steve Harvey moment in the book, she assures us with a chuckle. “But without spoiling the ending, there’s a part there where she must decide whether she wants to keep the crown or not. I’ll leave it there,” Pia teases.
Before and soon after becoming a certified beauty queen, Pia was known as a model, actress, host, chef, and, on occasion, a motivational speaker. But never as a writer. It turns out that she did dabble in writing beauty articles, albeit briefly, for a local broadsheet. Not as daunting and as time-consuming as writing a book, though, she admits, especially a work of fiction requiring time and loads of creativity and imagination.
“Some of my articles, pre-Miss Universe, are still on the Internet,” she says. “They’re like 10 years old now. But I’m much better at conceptualizing stories, and coming up with interesting and juicy scenarios in my head. That’s the easy part! But writing, my goodness, is the hard part. That took a while.”
She and her collaborators were supposed to launch the book in 2022 but postponed its release because of the still raging pandemic. “It didn’t feel right to launch it while countless people were facing so many challenges. I wasn’t even sure if it was still relevant. Would people still want to read it?” she admits.
The delay turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Tuttle Publishing came into the picture, giving the book the possibility of being distributed globally. But before that could happen, Pia had to further tweak her masterpiece, putting in additional context as well as translating Filipino words to English for the benefit of non-Filipino and non-beauty pageant aficionado readers.
This early, Pia is thinking of writing her second book, a self-help tome on building confidence and winning. “But I think I need to postpone writing it for a while. Perhaps, in another three years, because I need to live more. To experience life more. Otherwise, with such a subject, it might become another pageant book again.”
It was why, she adds, writing a memoir-type I account book seems premature. For a woman who wants to put up and grow her own global brand, as opposed to several business ventures she has collaborated with or lent her star power at the moment, and have children someday — “He wants a big family consisting of at least six children,” she says with a giggle — Pia isn’t finished writing her own story yet. Not by a long shot!
On being Mrs. Jauncey
Which brings us to the subject of married life. Less than three years into their relationship, Jeremy has taught Pia, an independent go-getter who, until recently, was unmindful of working even during weekends, the importance of achieving work-life balance.
“You see me working now on a Saturday because I’m in Manila,” she explains. “But when I’m in Dubai, where Jeremy works five days a week, our weekends are sacred. It’s for us. I never thought taking a break was important. For me it was all work, work, work because every minute counts. Kaya pala there were days na pagod na pagod ako noon. (That’s why there were days when I was so tired then.) I wasn’t giving myself a break. That was until I met Jeremy.”
Having been raised by a single mom, who probably had little time to show her tender, vulnerable side to her two daughters, Pia and her little sister, while growing up, weren’t as demonstrative and as touchy-feely as Jeremy and his family are. People might think Pia as sweet and lovable, but she’s that first to admit “feeling ko na kulang pa ako sa lambing” (I still lack showing signs of outward tenderness).
“But after seeing how Jeremy and his family relate with one another, that has changed,” she adds. “Nahawa na ako sa kanila (their influence has rubbed off on me), and it feels good. He also reminds me every so often not to react all the time and get stuck in my own bubble because of certain comments I hear or read on social media. The world, he says, is such a big place and there’s so much going on. And he’s right!”
More than just being married, but being with the right person, Pia believes, has made her, in turn, a better person herself. “Jeremy has brought out a lot of happiness in me. A lot of love. I feel like I’m able to express more love to others because I feel that myself.”
And what has Pia brought to their union? “I feel like I bring the fun in the relationship. Ever since we got together, according to his friends and family, he’s laughing more often and having more fun. He’s less structured when it comes to his approach on certain things. And this shows in the way he expresses, for example, his personal side on social media. He has become more open and more expressive.”
And what’s the best thing about married life? “It’s the feeling of safety and security a relationship brings because you’ve already committed to staying together until the end,” she shares. “It’s not a boyfriend-girlfriend situation anymore. Even if all this stops, which I hope it doesn’t, you still have a safe space to come home to. Everything Jeremy and I do now is towards our future.”
Yes, including the possibility of raising six beautiful children.
Photography by Dookie Ducay
Makeup by Justine Navato
Hair by Jeck Aguilar
Styling by Perry Tabora
Shot on location at Rizal Park Hotel, City of Manila
Special thanks to Michelle Garcia Arce
