Chanel Olive Thomas didn't let the pain of heartbreak keep her down. Instead, she dusted herself off after her failed relationship with Jake Cuenca, joined beauty pageants, and eventually earned herself the Binibining Pilipinas Supranational 2017 crown.

In an interview on "Tonight with Boy Abunda" on Tuesday night, Thomas explained that she is grateful that she got to taste life under the spotlight by being with the "Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin" actor. She said it helped prepare her for the Binibining Pilipinas pageant.

"I believe that everything that has happened in your life is a part of your journey. Everything that happens is making you a better person," she mused.

"So my relationship with him --I appreciate that time because it's a part of my process, on becoming who I am now. And I guess it has prepared me for this moment."

Thomas even went as far as to say that she might have not tried out beauty pageants if she and Cuenca never got together.

"I would have never joined Binibini if we were never together kasi I'm really blessed to have that experience from the very beginning."

Thomas and Cuenca called it quits in 2014.