(From left) Miss Universe Philippines 2022 Celeste Cortesi, MUPh Director of Communications Voltaire Tayag. Images: Seven Barretto via Instagram/@themissuniverseph, Facebook/Voltaire Tayag Official
Celeste Cortesi seemed to have moved on from her failure to bag the Miss Universe 2022 crown after she posted a noted on social media about what appeared to be alluding to her “heartbreaking loss” in the pageant, and her journey towards self-recovery.
For the first time since the coronation night, Cortesi shared her thoughts on Instagram by reposting the words of Canadian author Bianca Sparacino about finding happiness within oneself, with a line saying that it’s “never about your job or your degree or being in a relationship.”
“Happiness was always about being kinder to yourself; it was always about embracing the person you were becoming. One day, you will understand that happiness was always about learning to live with yourself, that your happiness was never in the hands of others… it was always about you,” Sparacino’s post read, which Cortesi posted on her Instagram Stories.
Image: Screengrab from Instagram/@celeste_cortesi
Many pageant observers were dismayed after Cortesi failed to get into the Top 16 of the Miss Universe 2022, thereby breaking the country’s 12-year streak of being in the semifinals.
Filipino-American R’Bonney Gabriel of the United States was later on proclaimed as winner of the Miss Universe 2022.
The Miss Universe Philippines (MUPh) director for communications Voltaire Tayag also shared photos of Cortesi with her loved ones in the US after the pageant’s coronation night on the same day.
“It’s a brand new day and the future is as bright as we make it. All love and pride for dearest @celeste_cortesi,” Tayag wrote.
Cortesi’s beauty camp The Camp also congratulated the beauty queen on her journey in a separate post on Sunday, Jan. 15. The photo showed the Filipina-Italian stunner donning a fur coat, along with her pageant team.
“We love you @celeste_cortesi!!! You have made us all so proud,” The Camp’s Instagram caption read.
Cortesi, however, has yet to issue a personal statement on her early exit from the 71st Miss Universe.
Despite this, the Philippines is considered to be one of the frontrunners throughout the Miss Universe pageant’s 71-year history with four titleholders, namely, Gloria Diaz in 1969, Margarita Moran in 1973, Pia Wurtzbach in 2015, and Catriona Gray in 2018. EDV