Heart Evangelista during her contract signing with GMA. Image: X/@gmanetwork
Heart Evangelista was in tears as she expressed her gratitude to GMA for allowing her to “spread [her] wings” and do “whatever [she] wanted” in her career.
Evangelista renewed her contract with the Kapuso network on Monday, July 29, in a ceremony attended by her manager Gigi Lara as well as the network’s executives, including its president and CEO Gilberto R. Duavit, Jr., executive vice president and chief financial officer Felipe S. Yalong, senior vice president for entertainment group Lilybeth Rasonable, and senior vice president for programming and talent management Atty. Annette Gozon-Valdes.
The actress-fashion personality graced the event in an elegant beige and gold dress with beaded tassels and a silver necklace encrusted with green gemstones.
After signing her contract, Evangelista started to tear up as she recalled how the network stood by her side “through the hardest times.” She also admitted that she didn’t know “what to offer” upon entering GMA at the time.
“I just want to thank everybody here. Because they were with me through the hardest times. When I moved to GMA, I didn’t know what to offer,” she said. “My bosses said that I bring so much life or all the praises that they would say today [to me], but when they accepted me and gave me one of my biggest contracts, I hadn’t proven anything and I’m very, very grateful.”
The “I Left My Heart in Sorsogon” star then expressed her gratitude to her managers, GMA’s executives and staff, and other people who helped her throughout her career.
“I think I have gone far because I’m grateful for all the people who helped me when I had nothing. Maraming salamat. What I have [right now] is because of the people who started it. In good and the bad, I’m so grateful. I will never forget that,” she said.
In her speech, Evangelista said GMA was the place that allowed her to “truly be herself,” saying the network allowed her to spread her wings and “celebrate [her] biggest roles.”
“Whatever I had, I would like to bring it back [here in GMA] because this is where I feel like I truly began being myself. It is very rare to be with people who won’t just give you roles. They will allow you to celebrate your biggest role. Which is being myself, not just being myself, but they actually gave me wings where I can do whatever I want, so thank you so much to GMA. I am thankful to all of you,” she said.
Evangelista hinted the “next few years” are shaping up to be “very colorful,” when asked about the projects she had lined up with the network.
“The next few years will be very colorful, even more colorful, with all the projects [and people] working with them,” she said.
Evangelista has made a name for herself as a fashion personality, gracing magazine pages in different countries and attending fashion events abroad. She is currently the president of the Senate Spouses Foundation Inc.
Her recent acting projects were the 2021 drama “I Left My Heart in Sorsogon” and the 2015 movie “Felix Manalo.”