Miss Universe 2022 R'Bonney Gabriel says embracing her Filipino roots makes her strong

January 15, 2023 - 1:11pm

MANILA, Philippines — Miss Universe 2022 R'Bonney Gabriel said she believes that embracing her Filipino roots is what makes her strong.

In an interview with CNN Philippines three months ago, Gabriel was asked to give advice to women aspiring to become a beauty queen.

“My advice is really tap into what makes you unique and fully embrace that. As a first Filipina-American Miss USA, I embraced that whole heartedly,” Gabriel said.

“I think that's make me strong so I encourage girls to really look in what makes them unique,” she added.

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During the interview, she revealed that she grew up eating Filipino food and has already visited the country.

“My mom adapted some recipes. I grew up on chicken adobo, ensaymadas, salmon sinigang. Luckily, I was able to visit the Philippines growing up and numerous times. I've spend a lot of time in Manila, I've been in El Nido. I wanted to explore more in the Philippines. It is so beautiful,” she said.

She wore a Maria Clara-inspired gown at the Miss USA pageant last year.

“The story behind is I want to celebrate my parents and give thanks to them. My mom is from Texas and my dad is from Manila, Philippines and they actually got married in the Philippines,” she said.

Gabriel was crowned as Miss Universe 2022 earlier today giving her country its record 9th crown at the prestigious pageant held in New Orleans in the United States.

The Filipino-American Gabriel is a sustainable fashion designer, sewing teacher and model. She is the first-ever Filipino-American Miss USA.

Gabriel's winning response for the final question "If you win Miss Universe, how would you work to demonstrate this as an empowering and progressive organization?” was to become a transformational leader, and connected that to her fashion design background.

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