Bianca Umali speaks up on viral photo: ‘Everyone is beautiful’

Bianca Umali still could not believe that her photo that she shared over the weekend went viral.

“I was surprised, kasi nagising na lang ako isang umaga and then my name was top trending on Twitter,” she told Nelson Canlas on “24 Oras” Wednesday.

The head shot of the actress that showed that she lost some weight during the lockdown immediately became the subject of body-shaming comments

Two days later, Bianca shared a photo of herself in a swimsuit in response to an Instagram challenge of posting black and white photos as a way of promoting self-love and solidarity among women.

Despite the negative comments hurled at her, Bianca said the message she wanted to convey with her photo that went viral was: “Everyone is beautiful. Be confident with who you are, with how you are. Nobody needs any validation from anyone to say how beautiful they are.”

Bianca said if there seemed to be a noticeable change in her, that’s because she finally had time for herself amid the quarantine.

“During the quarantine I did actually focus on myself. Self-care. I worked out daily. I also took care of the things I ate. Nag-filter ako ng lahat ng mga ini-intake ko. Also a lot of yoga.”

To maintain her weight, the actress said she had been eating small and healthy meals frequently.

“The glow we see after everyone takes care of themselves is ’yung happiness nila,” said Bianca. “I think ’yun ’yung masasabi ko na naachieve ko.” – RC, GMA News