Catriona Gray shares hardship as breadwinner at 21
MANILA, Philippines — Before Catriona Gray became Miss Universe 2018, and now, a recording star, the Filipino-Australian beauty also went through hardship as a breadwinner of her family at the young age of 21.
During her recent virtual press conference for her new single “R.Y.F,” Catriona recalled a low point in her life and how she overcame it.
“There were multiple times when I was giving up and felt like I wasn’t good enough,” she began.
“One of them was when I was quite young. I was 21. I was breadwinner of my family at that time and I didn’t have any new work opportunity coming in and I just felt like I kept getting ‘no,’ like every single opportunity kept closing on me.”
Catriona, who was then a budding model, didn’t know what to do with her life.
“I was like, ‘Is there something wrong with me? Am I kulang? Don’t have I anything good to offer?’ Like I questioned everything about myself.”
She also doubted her decision to live in the Philippines at that time.
“I felt like I was such a disappointment to my family and it was a very hard time to me.”
Catriona, however, found her way out of the dark tunnel by being a Christian.
“But it was very true in strengthening my faith, because that’s how I started my faith journey as a Christian. That really pulled me out from that.”
True enough, her faith led her to her advocacy to promote children’s welfare and education, which eventually led her to try her luck in pageants that enabled her to speak more and raise funds for her causes.
“And also I was introduced into volunteerism that introduced me to pageantry so I was all of a sudden feeling that si Lord is guiding me talaga. He’s like, ‘Wait lang anak! I have something for you. Be patient lang!”
She encourages parents to be supportive of their children’s dreams, too. She, for one, didn’t realize that she wanted to become a singer until she was 18. It all began when she felt a certain “kilig” when she recorded her voice for a Mother’s Day tribute and heard her voice beaming from the speakers.
“I’ve always been passionate about music and I’ve been trained, vocal lessons and everything, when I came back to the Philippines after my reign,” shared Gray.
“Because I would just sing along in the house. I always loved listening to music and all throughout my academic life, I would always be in the choir and I took part in musicals… Even to this day, I have a lot of nervousness when it comes to the arena of music because I feel such a newbie and I feel there’s a lot of room for me to prove myself…”
Similarly, she hopes “R.Y.F,” now streaming in major music platforms under ABS-CBN Star Music and CS Music, will inspire listeners to stand up for someone or something.
“I hope this song could be a reflection that life isn’t easy, getting to a dream isn’t easy… But just keep that internal compass to get you into the right direction!”
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