After a week’s silence, volleyball star turned beauty queen clears air on pageant controversy

PHOTO: MICHELE GUMABAO/FACEBOOK

VOLLEYBALL star turned beauty queen Michele Gumabao capped her pageant career with a tell-all video.

Gumabao became the talk of the town last week because of her noticeable absence during the official announcement of winners, after she finished second runner-up in this year’s Miss Universe Philippines contest.

The former La Salle standout said ‘rumors and lies’ that circulated online prompted her to break her silence, which the 28-year-old did through a 24-minute video titled “This is my statement, this is my story!”

“I’m not sharing this to attack anyone, I just want to share the truth to be able to move forward,” she began her video posted in her own YouTube channel.

Straight up, Gumabao said: “When everyone online started making stories, thinking they know me, thinking they know what really happened, what saddens me the most is that those who knew the reason why I left, could have spoken up about it.”

PHOTO BY: MICHELE GUMABAO/INSTAGRAM

Gumabao said the pressure was mounting for her from the start, revealing that she passed out at home due to sheer fatigue three days before the pageant. She suffered a cut in the face and a broken toe because of the fall, Gumabao added.

The spiker said she managed to join the contest by rehabbing at home.

Gumabao considered herself a ‘strong woman,’ but she admitted that there were things that happened during pageant day that she couldn’t handle – the reason she asked to leave even before the official annoucement of winners.

Gumabao rued organizers knew the very reason why she left before the winners were announced – she revealed battling anxiety at that moment after ‘I heard things I wasn’t supposed to hear’ – yet never bothered to come to her defense.

“On the 25th, I heard things I wasn’t supposed to hear,” she said. “I was there because I have a purpose so I still stood up, got dressed and smiled for the show … But everything came crashing down to me and I had to leave.”

“When I left, I sent a message to the winner, congratulated her, and she replied, ‘Thank you,'” she continued.

After a week’s silence, Gumabao said she mustered the courage to make the video to reveal the unfiltered truth.

“I do not regret anything, I don’t regret joining, I don’t regret being part of it, I don’t regret leaving,” she said, explaining at length the reason why she left the pageant even before the winners could be announced.

By speaking up, Gumabao said she has found a new purpose.

“As a real queen, it’s not just crowns that we’re fixing, we should be fixing society, social issues, and the future, because we can,” Gumabao said. “It will affect the future of pageantry.”

In a final plea, Gumabao asked people to stop spreading toxicity online.

“I am choosing to take a stand, choosing to use my voice. This may be my purpose, not to wear a crown of jewels, but wear a crown of thorns… People should appreciate beauty pageants for what it is, you do not know what happens behind the scenes,” she said.