Heart Evangelista: It really pays to be kind

August 18, 2024 | 12:00am

Heart Evangelista looked stunning and elegant wearing a demi-couture Giambattista Valli dress and transparent platform heels from an Italian brand Le Silla during her recent guesting on “Fast Talk with Boy Abunda.” She completed her glamorous look with jewelry pieces from her personal collection and layered them effortlessly.

“The truth, the dress I really forgot because this is a two-year-old dress. I just saved it for a moment,” Heart replied when I asked about the estimated value of what she was wearing that day. She admitted that the Italian fashion designer is not only a favorite but also a good friend. “Sobrang bait nila,” she said.

Heart’s guesting on my talk show coincided with her contract renewal with GMA Network, which has been her home for 16 years. The special event was called Heart Kapuso Day. She was filled with gratitude to the network as she recalled the past. “I’ve been through so much with GMA. Sobrang dami kong pinagdaanan. Noong dumating ako sa GMA I was really in a bad state of mind. I was heartbroken. I felt like I had nowhere to go and they really gave me an opportunity. That was one of the biggest contracts I signed in my life and I’m just so grateful.”

Aside from being an actress, Heart is also a global fashion icon who is always invited to attend international runway events and rubs elbows with many big names in the fashion world. She was once seen sitting beside celebrities Avril Lavigne and Ellie Goulding while watching a fashion show for the brand Tamara Ralph at the Paris Fashion Week. Heart’s impeccable sense of style stood out as she wore an embellished gold rose metal and crystal top matched with a long black pencil skirt.

Heart is kind and thankful to everyone she meets such as the photographers during fashion events. She explained, “Without the photographers, I wouldn’t really be anything. Compared to everybody that’s there, they’re all beautiful and tall. I’m just this small girl from the Philippines and yet you know they really take care of me. They take my photos that’s why I’m on Vogue. It really pays to be kind.”

Aside from being an actress, Heart is also a global fashion icon who is always invited to attend international runway events and rubs elbows with many big names in the fashion world. Photo is taken by her husband, Sen. Chiz Escudero.

Heart is a multi-hyphenated celebrity and she has added again another role on the list as the head of the Senate Spouses Foundation, Inc. (SSFI). This position becomes automatic as she is the wife of new Senate President Chiz Escudero. Heart admitted she panicked upon learning her responsibility because she found it daunting.

“Noong nauna kong nalaman kasi wala naman akong kamalay-malay sa mga ganyan, I try to separate myself from politics. Of course, I was happy for him (Sen. Chiz). I was proud of him. I didn’t know that I had a role whatsoever, that all of a sudden you have to head this and that. Umiyak ako. Na-upset ako ng konti,” she shared.

But everything has changed now. Heart has embraced her new role and is excited to fulfill her duties together with the other senate spouses. She feels a sense of purpose in doing several projects while she leads the organization composed of the senators’ wives.

Heart considers herself a wife first among her various roles in life. “I’ve matured and I know my priorities,” she said. Sen. Chiz is everything to Heart that it was not surprising that he was first mentioned when the actress was asked about the three guests she would invite if she were to host a dinner. “Every waking moment gusto ko kasama si Chiz.”

She also chose Michelle Obama because she is inspirational and can handle everything with grace. The last person she will invite is the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. “I love her so much. I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for her,” she explained.