Miss Malaysia Carrie Lee: A modern-day Cinderella

One look at Miss Malaysia 2004 Carrie Lee and you know why Alfred Vargas and LJ Reyes decided to cool off from their relationship. The rumored apple of Alfred’s eyes is not just another pretty face. Her Cinderella story — somewhat akin to another beauty queen, former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres — is for the books.

As a struggling teenager born to a humble family, Carrie had to take on odd jobs just to get by. At 16, she was already working as a waitress and a flower shop staff. At 17, she took on three jobs: for an education software company, a sidewalk café as a waitress, and — on Sunday, her supposed rest day — she modeled for another outfit. Out of her earnings, Carrie not only financed her studies, but that of her brothers’ and sisters’ as well.

Probably because she knows how to handle life’s ups and downs, Carrie was at the receiving end of Lady Luck’s blessings. She was distributing leaflets one day when someone saw her and suggested she join the Miss Malaysia pageant. And, like the magic wardrobe in The Chronicles of Narnia, Carrie stepped into a brand-new world of opportunities and adventures beyond her wildest dreams.

She instantly found a friend in Jackie Chan, whom she met in the Hong Kong airport on their way to a charity project to help the tsunami victims in Indonesia. Carrie also entered Malaysian TV, where she did dramas. She also hosted shows and appeared in a couple of ads not only in Malaysia but also in Hong Kong and Vietnam. This is where her skills in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Indonesian came in handy.

Fate has never been this kind. Carrie moved out of her humble abode and transferred to more comfortable, spacious quarters. She parlayed her experience as a beauty queen and host to put up her own company. White Fairy — which carries her signature white and pink colors — organizes beauty pageants and other special events.

When she returned to Malaysia from the Philippines where she had a three-week stay recently (she’s back here to tape the soon-to-air GMA afternoon teledrama Muli), Carrie graced the opening of a new branch of her boutique in Kuala Lumpur.

Now that she’s back in the country, Carrie is getting her fair share of intrigues. She’s coy when people ask her the inevitable: Are she and Alfred sweethearts? Ask Alfred, she tells the most curious of reporters.

She has nothing but nice words to describe him though.

"Alfred is handsome, nice and caring. He’ll make an ideal boyfriend," she says.

How can she tell?

"I know by the way he treats people. He treats the rich and the poor equally," she replies.

She showed him around in Malaysia when they went there for some scenes in Muli.

Yes, she admits. Her former boyfriend got jealous of Alfred because his photos happened to be in Carrie’s cellphone. Those photos of them together were taken during their scenes for Muli. But Carrie’s ex didn’t like them any. He promptly deleted them.

Those photos, however, were not the culprits that wrecked havoc in their relationship. It was work. Carrie’s ex, it turns out, didn’t understand her work before the cameras. They come from two different worlds, and never the twain shall meet.

Now Alfred may be steeped in showbiz, but Carrie is mum about the romantic possibilities between them. Give her a break, she has known the guy for only a few months!

He has told her about Boracay and Tagaytay, where Carrie is raring to go, now that she’s on an extended stay here. She’s also getting Filipinized day by day. Carrie admits she adores street food, like dirty ice cream, which she first tasted while taping in Cavite, and the humble taho.

She spent her first three weeks in Manila learning her Tagalog speaking lines in Muli and a smattering of conversational Filipino: "Mahal ko kayo, Kapuso and salamat po," Carrie told visibly amused writers around her.

She’ll learn a lot more as days go by. No, make that several weeks, perhaps months.

Carrie herself is amazed at how she has not felt homesick on any given day she’s in the Philippines. The people are so hospitable and caring, she gushes. And how sinigang and the native crabs make her mouth water!

Best of all, Carrie just can’t get enough of acting. She may have lost her boyfriend along the way, but she has moved on, like she always does.

Carrie Lee is no survivor of life’s school of hard knocks for nothing.