Moira dela Torre on getting fit, rediscovering independence and finding new love

Moira dela Torre —MOIRA DELA TORRE INSTAGRAM

Of all the things that I’ve worked hard for, being able to say ‘I love me’ is my greatest accomplishment so far,” declared singer Moira dela Torre, who admitted to going through and enduring personal battles in the past years.

Apart from her highly publicized breakup from husband, singer-songwriter Jason Hernandez, in 2022, Moira said she had to deal with physical conditions like her Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, estrogen dominance, as well as bulimia and infertility.

The singer, who had just come home from a successful concert tour abroad, chatted with Inquirer Entertainment recently about getting fit and confident, living independently and her readiness to find new love.

“I did a lot of hormonal balancing with my doctor. From there, I already experienced steady weight loss. I didn’t really go on a diet or exercise until this year. I wanted to say the weight loss helped my confidence, but before this, while my mental health was being corrected, I was already finding so much confidence,” the 29-year-old said. “I’m thankful because finding myself started inward and maybe it just manifested effortlessly. Now, I just want to take care of what I’m feeling and seeing. What I’m actually putting more effort on is my mental health.”

The singer said quite a number of people reached out to her to seek her advice, particularly those who thought they could be experiencing the same problems. “I answered as many messages as I could. Sometimes, I just send my doctor’s number and suggest that they take the supplement I’m using as well. I think a lot of the hormone correction also had to do with stress. It’s really all about lowering the stress level,” Moira explained.

She said that the night before the interview, she was finally able to cook her first meal in her new home. She was thrilled to experience a new kind of independence. “I’ve been living here for a couple of months already, but I hadn’t had the time to just be alone and rest. It was only last night that I was able to achieve that,” she confessed, adding that she transferred homes three times in the past year.

‘An escape’

Moira said she considered the seven-month tour as an opportunity “to get away and escape.” She explained: “To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to going home because I didn’t have anyone to go home to, and so I really loved my tour. I think now that we’re on break—we will go back on tour in October—it feels like it’s not as bad, and I actually love going home or just being at home. Right now is such a good season to realize so many things about myself.

“I used to feel that I needed validation from others. Now, when I hear things from people, I just say, ‘Oh I’m not like that.’ I feel like I’ve finally found that confidence in myself, that I’ve finally found who Moira is. I feel very proud about that.”

Moira added: “I feel like I’m in my season now of finding my footing again, finding my independence. The moment I entered this new season, everything just changed for me. After three years of being infertile, I was suddenly cleared of my hypothyroidism and estrogen dominance and my PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). My psoriasis started clearing up. I think a lot of them were just mental. Even before any of those became visible, I felt so much freedom from feeling like I was a wrong thing. This freed me, and slowly, I learned how to take care of myself, and everything just manifested.”

The interview was to launch Moira as the ambassador of the alcoholic beverage Maria Clara Sangria and the new variant, Maria Clara Virgin (nonalcoholic). For this particular campaign, Moira composed “Maria Clara,” where she lends her soothing voice to deliver a positive message of self-love, regardless of the situation. “Maria Clara” which can be streamed on Spotify, “tells everyone that, sometimes, it’s okay to not feel okay, but you can take your time and be assured that everything will be alright,” she said.

The common stereotype for Maria Clara is the image of a woman who is shy, demure and modest. Moira admitted that stereotyping was something she had to deal with when she first joined the industry.

“My answer to this is both a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ because I entered the industry not fitting any stereotype. I was never the prettiest in the room, nor was I artista-looking—I was chubby! In terms of voice, I was never a rakista, nor a biritera. I didn’t even know how to define my genre at that time. All I know is that I wanted to sing to people the songs I was writing. So in a way, I felt like I didn’t have to care. I felt like I could just be me,” she began.

Changed

“But at the same time, I feel like this changed in 2019 when I had a little accident and it really shook my security and got me a little insecure,” Moira said of the time she got hospitalized after a botched nose procedure. “It was also around that time when my entire season changed and I had to navigate a lot of things for the next three years after that. It was in 2022 when I started finding myself again and picking up from where I first started. It was then that I said I could be unapologetic again.”

Now that she is in a new season in her life, is Moira open to finding new love? “I don’t know,” she declared. “I think I’m not there yet. I don’t know if I’m jaded, if I’m cynical, or if I’m just breathing and healing. I’m just enjoying this time for myself because I don’t think I’ve ever given myself time. It’s always about giving people my entire life.

“I feel like this time around, I can say that I deserve my time as well. I’m in that season when I’m not closing my doors, but I also know that I’ve gone through enough to see when something would be worth my while so when that time comes, let’s see.” INQ