A series of fortunate events: Markki’s road to wellness

Markki Stroem

Markki Stroem is turning 35 in March, but he looks much younger than he was, say, before the pandemic. These days, the singer-actor-host shuttles from one project to another, and he says that every road that led to this point in his life could be the result of a positive lifestyle change. He looks as fit and healthy as he feels.

“I got really, really big right before the pandemic started,” Markki disclosed to us. “I think it was because I was coming from [the play] ‘Angels in America.’ I gained a lot of weight for that role because I needed to look like I was a little older, because my face looks young.

“But it took me a while to lose the weight again. I found an online coach to help me out because I had symptoms of COVID during the first week of the pandemic. At the time, we didn’t have swab tests yet.

“So when I got home from the emergency room, I couldn’t get swabbed. I didn’t know if I had COVID—and I was freaking out! I had a hard time breathing, but since I didn’t have such heavy symptoms, I found someone to help get me back into physical wellness. My other problem was that I was also getting anxiety attacks and depression because of my lack of workouts.

“And when I got back into working out, I really started to like … no, love … myself more. And that isn’t only because I was in shape, but also because my body was releasing positive endorphins.

Better framework

“[When that happens], you stop getting these bad negative thoughts that usually fill your head when you’re not active. I’m not saying that everyone needs to do it, but for me, working out has really put me in a much better framework.

“And from that, I did TED Talks last year on mental health, called Sanity—which is also the title of my song about the same theme. It focused on mental, physical and emotional health, and how to maintain that during the pandemic. They even released it on [the grassroots initiative] TEDx international YouTube page.”

If you think that was the end of Markki’s long and happy run, you’ve got another think coming.

“When I got really fit, one thing led to another,” he explained. “From TED Talks, I got my first series, which is ‘Love at the End of the World,’ because they said I was in good shape. I did it. But after posting a photo from the series, I was contacted by Direk Carlo [Enciso Catu] and read for the role of Bianca aka Bingo, my character in the Cignal Play series ‘My Delivery Gurl,’ which required me to walk in heels.

“So, I got myself a pair of heels, started walking around the house, took videos of myself learning how to walk, and then I got a message from a Hollywood designer who sent me a message, saying, ‘Can you walk for my show in Dubai Fashion Week?’ It got me a gig in Dubai!

“And that’s all because of my decision to start embarking on my fitness and wellness journey. One thing just led to another—so it was literally like putting one hat after taking one out, then putting one wig on and so on (laughs).”

For Markki, it was a series of fortunate events influencing each other—and it all began with the resolve to get fit again. INQ