Gloria Diaz no beauty pageant aficionado

Gloria Diaz: Beauty is its own excuse for being.

Would you believe former Miss Universe Gloria Diaz isn’t a beauty pageant aficionado? This we learned from the actress-beauty queen herself when we crossed paths with her recently.

“No, I don’t follow these things,” she told us. “In fact, I see so many beautiful women in the biz who turn out to be Ms. Philippines winners (laughs). One time, I saw Kylie Verzosa and said to her, ‘Hi. What’s your name again? I think you should join a pageant.

“Kylie said, ‘Yeah, I did—and I won.’ ‘Which one?’ I said. You see, I’m not good at that—I have a bad memory for faces. But when I see somebody pretty and tall, I tell her to join the beauty contest.”

Asked what she thinks explains our fascination for beauty pageants, Gloria said, “As they say, beauty is its own excuse for being. For many hopefuls, it’s a step to a better life. If you win, you’ll still be remembered, even when you’re 90 years old already.

“If you ask me about what one should do to win, it isn’t that easy. I always feel it’s fate more than what the contestants do. Definitely, as a beauty queen, hindi naman ako ang pinakamaganda (I’m not the prettiest). But it’s fate. Something happens that makes one win—and it’s not because of anything you do in particular.”