Diana Zubiri on her simple Aussie life, advice to next gen ‘Sang’gres’

After giving birth to her third child in 2020, Diana Zubiri and her family packed their bags and moved to Australia.

At first, Diana and her husband, Filipino-Australian businessman Andrew Smith, intended to stay there for three months just to size up their life prospects and weather the pandemic somewhere more relaxed. But then, the three months turned into six and then into a year. And now, she’s a permanent resident, away from the glitz and buzz of Philippine show biz.

“I couldn’t work because I just had a baby. And if I were to accept offers, I would have to do locked-in tapings. So, since I wouldn’t be able to work until my baby grows up—and we didn’t know how long COVID-19 would last—we thought that it would be easier to live in Australia, where we could work more freely and do what we had to do,” she told reporters.

Based in Adelaide, South Australia, Diana and Andrew run a talent agency for a global social live-streaming platform.

“Life there is simple: no cameras, no makeup, etc. Just normal. I’m used to it because that’s how I usually am when I don’t have work,” said the 38-year-old actress, who visited the Philippines for the first time in two years late last year for her launch as the local celebrity ambassador of the education and vocational training provider Signet Institute of Australia.

While the cost of living in Australia is higher, Diana said, it more than makes up for it with the quality of life. “It’s safe and there’s not much traffic. My kids study there and are well-adjusted. They take the bus to school. We can just walk around, roam around the parks or spend some time on the nearby beach,” she said.

And if there’s one thing Diana’s most thankful for, it’s that she has never been more hands-on in raising her children. “Back in the Philippines, we had a helper for when I had to juggle different things. But not in Australia. That was challenging at first,” related Diana, who has two daughters with Andrew: Aliyah, 7, and Amira, 3; and a 14-year-old son, King, with her late ex-husband, Alex Lopez.

While she mostly leads a quiet life these days, she still gets recognized in public by other Filipinos.

There are also a lot of Filipinos in Adelaide. So, if you go to the mall, they will recognize you, but they get a little shy to come up to me. The culture in Australia is that they’re not really comfortable disturbing people. So, sometimes they would tell me, ‘We know you moved here because you no longer crave this kind of life, but can we just try to have a photo taken with you?’” she related.

Vlogging

Aside from her job as a social media talent manager, Diana also vlogs for fun. Of course, the followers and money she earns don’t hurt. But she treats vlogging like a journal of sorts. “It’s just a way for us to document our lives. When I was young, I didn’t have a lot of videos or photos of myself. But now, kids can take photos or save their every move,” she said.

“I just vlog about whatever. No pressure. I was hesitant at first because I didn’t really have content to show. But Andrew told me, ‘Why not just show what your life is like?’ So, I would show random stuff, like me doing the laundry. My son didn’t want to edit it at first. ‘Mom, why is this your content?’ he would ask me. But it ended up being one of the most popular ones,” she said. “I think people are curious because it’s different from what they see from me in the Philippines.”

Now that she’s an ambassador for Signet Institute, Diana is expected to visit the Philippines more often this year. Part of her job is to create vlogs and visit different cities around the country to look for students or skilled workers seeking education and a stepping stone to a career in Australia.

“I never imagined I would be a school ambassador,” she said of Signet which offers courses in business, health, community service construction and more. “We recently went to Baguio to meet students who are interested in studying abroad … I will be flying here more often. We plan to go to Cebu and Cagayan de Oro soon.”

Biggest priority

Who knows? Diana may just end up squeezing in a show biz project or two during her coming visits. “My kids are still my biggest priority. But I’m not closing my doors on show biz. I will be going back and forth. Maybe I can accept offers when the kids don’t have school. Let’s see,” she said.

To this day, Diana remains well-loved for her portrayal of Sang’gre Danaya in the hit fantasy series “Encantadia” (2005). The show has since been remade and birthed spinoffs, like the upcoming “Encantadia Chronicles: Sang’gre.”

What advice can she give the new batch of Sang’gres (to be played by Bianca Umali, Kelvin Miranda, Angel Guardian and Faith da Silva)?

“Enjoy the process and enjoy the adoration for the character. That was one of my regrets back then. It was my first soap, so I didn’t really know how things worked. Sunday was our only break from taping. And that was on top of other jobs and shows. I wasn’t really able to enjoy the character’s popularity until later on in life. People still talk about it until now. Grabe pala talaga ‘yun,” she said.

Diana also hopes that the “Encantadia” universe becomes as transformative for them as it was for her. “I was doing sexy films and was part of ‘Bubble Gang’ back then. I didn’t understand why I was being offered a project with stars who had wholesome images,” she said. “But I’m glad I accepted it. It was far from the image I had, but it gave me the change I had been wanting.” INQ

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