Itinuturing bilang kauna-unahang Filipino-American na nanalo sa Miss Universe, inilahad ni Miss Universe 2022 R'Bonney Gabriel na hindi niya nalilimutan ang kaniyang pinanggalingan at may mga kaugalian siyang nagpapakita ng kaniyang pagiging “Pinoy at heart.”
Sa podcast na Updated with Nelson Canlas, na iniulat din sa "24 Oras Weekend," ibinahagi ni R'Bonney ang hirap na pinagdaanan ng kaniyang amang si Remigio Bonson, na tubong Malate, sa pagpunta sa Amerika.
Lumaki ang kaniyang ama noong panahon ng World War II.
“He tells me how his family sold a lot of belongings to raise money for a plane ticket. And when he got to America, he only got $20. He said he didn’t need much else because he was going straight to college,” kwento ni R'Bonney.
“So he made it work with $20 and he made really great grades here in America,” dagdag niya.
Ang kaniyang pangalang R'Bonney ay hango sa pangalan ng ama.
“When he came to America he shortened it up a little bit and he just went by R’Bon. I’m kind of the female version of his name,” sabi ni R'Bonney.
Ibinahagi rin ni R'Bonney ang mga kaugaliang Pinoy na kaniyang nakuha.
“We have the lechon at the table. Every time somebody would have a birthday my big family would get together. My titos and titas are so funny. Filipinos are always joking, always happy and bring so much joy so I’m so thankful. Always karaoke,” sabi ni R'Bonney.
“Absolutely, I do that (pagpulot ng mga bagay gamit ang mga daliri ng paa). And I never really realized that that was something different until I did it around my friends that weren’t Filipino. And they were like ‘What did you just do?”
“I grew up with the Filipino broom to sweep the floor. I always introduce it to my friends and they are like ‘What is that?’ I tell them ‘It’s so much better to sweep the floor this way,” dagdag pa ng beauty queen. —VBL, GMA Integrated News