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Miss Universe Philippines 2026 Bea Millan-Windorski on "Fast Talk with Boy Abunda." MUPH/Facebook

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<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1778130143306693521674_18176250565397868_3915957623531648784_n.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Miss Universe Philippines 2026 Bea Millan-Windorski on &quot;Fast Talk with Boy Abunda.&quot; MUPH/Facebook"/>Miss Universe Philippines 2026 Bea Millan-Windorski on &quot;Fast Talk with Boy Abunda.&quot; MUPH/Facebook</div>Newly crowned Miss Universe Philippines Bea Millan-Windorski turned emotional in a television interview as she responded to remarks that she has been &quot;performative&quot; and an &quot;opportunist&quot; in her pageant journey. The Filipino-American beauty queen addressed the negative comments sent her way in an interview on &quot;Fast Talk with Boy Abunda&quot; on Wednesday, May 6.&quot;I get a lot of criticisms that I am an opportunist or I&#x27;m performative. But throughout this whole journey, I&#x27;ve just been trying to be enough for myself and enough for younger Bea who is proud to be Filipina, and felt rejected by both Americans and Filipinos at home,&quot; she said.&quot;I&#x27;ve fought so hard to carve out a place where I feel like I belong, and that&#x27;s why winning the crown was so emotional,&quot; she added.For Millan-Windorski, <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/pageants-beauty-queens/2026/5/3/bea-millan-windorski-determined-to-win-ph-s-5th-miss-universe-title-1033">being crowned Miss Universe Philippines 2026</a> means finally finding her place after growing up &quot;not really feeling like I belong anywhere.&quot; &quot;I&#x27;ve worked so hard to pick the Philippines as my home, and by winning this crown, I feel like the Philippines has finally picked me,&quot; she said. Millan-Windorski went on to set the record straight on questions surrounding her citizenship and residency, saying she has been a Filipino since she was born.&quot;One of the first things my mom did when I was born was register my birth with the Philippine Embassy in the US. And under RA (Republic Act) 9225, if you are born to a Filipino mother or father, as long as they register your birth, your citizenship is reacquired,&quot; she explained. &quot;And then, once I moved here to the Philippines, that&#x27;s when I started the very long process of obtaining your passport.&quot;And while she has only been residing in the Philippines for a little over a year, Millan-Windorski said she has been visiting the country ever since she was little. &quot;I have a permanent residence in San Juan, La Union because that&#x27;s where my grandparents live. They moved here after I was born. So every two, three years, whenever we could afford it, we would visit them here,&quot; she shared. &quot;That&#x27;s why I really felt like I was lucky to grow up in two homes, both here and in the United States.&quot;The beauty queen also cited all the work she has done for the Philippines while living in the US: &quot;I say the Philippines is worth representing because I&#x27;ve done work to represent the Philippines my whole life. Even in the US, I joined the Asian Student Union, I was joining protests of Stop Asian Hate because I wanted to live up to the legacy of my lola and my mom, and all they sacrificed.&quot;When asked by Abunda why she represented the US in Miss Earth 2024, Millan-Windorski said she was signed up by her mom for the national pageant without her consent. &quot;I was so focused on law school applications and pursuing my academic career when my mom signed me up for Miss Earth USA,&quot; she recalled. &quot;I was like, this is not my thing, I&#x27;m not gonna try very hard, I won&#x27;t win the pageant.&quot;&quot;And then one day, if I feel called to pageantry, I&#x27;ll do it again in the Philippines. Kasi that&#x27;s really where my heart is.&quot; Millan-Windorski will aim for the Philippines&#x27; fifth Miss Universe crown in the 2026 edition of the pageant in Puerto Rico this November.

Newly crowned Miss Universe Philippines Bea Millan-Windorski turned emotional in a television interview as she responded to remarks that she has been "performative" and an "opportunist" in her pageant journey.

Newly crowned Miss Universe Philippines Bea Millan-Windorski turned emotional in a television interview as she responded to remarks that she has been "performative" and an "opportunist" in her pageant journey.

Miss Universe PH Bea Millan-Windorski responds to 'opportunist,' 'performative' remarks

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Miss Universe PH Bea Millan-Windorski responds to 'opportunist,' 'performative' remarks

ABS-CBN News

Published May 07, 2026 01:11 PM PHT

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