EXCLUSIVE: What is Catriona Gray's biggest fear?

In a phone interview with GMANetwork.com, Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray reveals her biggest fear in life.

And no, it doesn't have anything to do with losing the Miss Universe crown.

"My biggest fear? It's something happening to my dad," Cat admits in a somber tone.

Catriona's dad is Ian Gray, a Scottish immigrant living in Australia. Her mom is Normita Magnayon, a native of Oas, Albay.

"He's actually 75 now," she says of her dad. "And he is in good health, don't get me wrong. But growing up, I didn't get to spend that much time with him. And with me being based in New York now, I'm not really near him to spend time with him often.

"And it's one of my biggest fears, that something might happen to him. I wouldn't have been able to spend that time with him. That's something I guess is a reality of life, but yeah, it's my biggest fear."

As an only child, Cat has always considered "family" her top priority.

And so it doesn't come as a surprise that "family" is also her reason for being noticeably absent on social media during Christmas and the New Year.

Many netizens took her absence from social media as surprising because Catriona went off the grid at the time fans were waiting for her updates and at the time she was in her home country, the Philippines.

Catriona explains to GMA Network that it was all because she wanted to spend quiet time with her family before embarking on her new life as a Miss Universe in New York City. She rarely sees her parents in the Philippines. Her parents, after all, are based in Australia.

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"If you actually look back at my social media, every single Christmas I'd go off social media. Why? For me, Christmas and the New Year is the time for family," she says.

"It's the time to just be private and to spend that time with them. Because my parents, they do live abroad. They're based in Australia, eh. So before Thailand, I had not seen them since March, so that Christmas was really my only quiet time with them during the whole year of 2018.

With a short giggle, she adds, "That's why I took that time to myself and in fairness to me naman, e, it was only a week and a half. And now I'm making bawi with 'media week,' so yeah."

"Media week," is the first week of a Miss Universe on the job. During this time, the newly crowned Miss Universe would do interviews on different TV and radio stations and other media outlets in New York City.

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Catriona clarifies that her decision to stay away from social media for a week was a personal choice.

"No one asked me to be quiet and it's a personal choice that I make every year. Like I said, Christmas and New Year is for family time."

What did the Gray family talk about during their "family time"?

"Just enjoying each other's company," she replies. "It's really just catching up on the year, reflecting on the whole whirlwind of Miss Universe, making plans for the next couple of months. Also, I had to give the task to my parents to pack up my house in Manila since I was moving to New York.

"I am an only child and it's really those quiet moments with my parents that I really treasure."

Asked if she's a "daddy's girl," the 25-year-old beauty queen answers with a laugh, "I think I'm both [a daddy's and mama's girl]. When I was growing up, my dad used to work a lot away from home as a civil engineer. So I was very very close to my mom."

"But now I really just want to spend time with my dad. He is getting old and it's always been one of my fears, that I only have this much time left with him. So I really am very much affectionate with my parents and very, very close to them because I'm their only child."

Catriona, who has been enjoying the sights, the sounds, and the chilly weather of The Big Apple to the fullest, would not miss her parents for long. She says that she will be seeing them again soon.

"They're going to Canada actually, because 'yung tita ko is giving birth mid-month this January. So my mom wants to be there. I'm going to be a 'ninang' o godparent daw. I'll see them very soon."

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