Divine reinvention

MANILA, Philippines - The quintessential glam queen, Divine Lee, is slowly transcending her image as trendsetter, fashion figurehead and multimedia icon. One of the blogosphere’s prime movers and shakers, she continues to loom larger than life whether striking her fiercest poses on the catwalk, hobnobbing with Manila’s glitterati, pushing for gay advocacy or simply hamming it up in front of the camera in her typical Becky fashion.

But don’t let the elegance and sophistication fool you. Beneath her high society trappings lies the heart and soul of a modern-day Maria Clara laced with a sprinkling of gay pixie dust. Her colorful vocabulary, aptly called Beckinese, is a mash-up of gay lingo and popular Pinoy colloquialisms.

More than her classy fashionista looks, it’s her natural flair for hosting that opened new doors and led to a career reinvention of sorts for the longtime model/blogger, who is now one of the segment anchors and hosts for TV5’s daily showbiz-oriented talk show, Ang Latest, and is also one of the newest additions to Arnold Vegafria’s roster of talents.

As she narrates, “I would always do live hosting for events because they really found me too talkative as a model,” Divine says. “I never really thought about TV, until Paolo Bediones offered me Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I loved the US version, so I said yes right away! Then, Omar, one of the executive producers of (the now-defunct) Juicy, got me as a guest host for that show. I eventually became a regular — all this in about a little more than a year.”

She anchors a daily segment called Divine Revelations and does panel hosting every Tuesday and Thursday.

So far, making the transition from celebrity to inquisitive journalist hasn’t posed any problems for Divine. “I guess Divine the host and Divine the guest are one and the same,” she quips. “I never pretend to be anything or anybody else. I’m just naturally interested in people so asking questions is fun for me. I’ve learned how to do my research, especially more so now that I write for a tabloid.”

TV hosting isn’t all glam and glitter though. There are days when there’ll as many as four to five events in a day, stretched out from lunchtime until late evening. But what sets her apart from her contemporaries is that Divine has the temerity to go on-cam even without a script.

Of all her interviews to date, her one-on-one with Nora Aunor is her most memorable.

Asked for the most flattering comment she’s gotten so far, Divine laughs when friends would rib her and say: “Hindi ka na bulol!”

Some fans debate whether Divine would be as endearing even if she were the serious, prim and proper type. To this, she says, “Even when I had to be put to sleep to check my ulcer, my doctor said that he can’t help but laugh. Apparently, when I was sedated with anesthesia, I was groggy yet talking about Dao Ming Su who wanted to court me then, back during my Meteor Garden fever. The doc said that I was so detailed pa daw about our non-existent first date in Luneta. How embarrassing!”

How she maintains her reed-thin figure continues to baffle her fellow co-hosts. “I eat a lot!” she clarifies. “But I guess I just have a faster metabolism because of my talkativeness. I’m such a foodie that my dogs are named Liempo and Pritchon.”

Check out Divine’s fashion musings and other ramblings at www.divinelee.com.