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TWBA Toplist: These celebrities share past jobs before fame 

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Mary Ann Bardinas

As we all know, not all celebrities are born to wealthy and influential families, nor have famous or powerful connections, especially in showbiz. Some have to work hard and persevere on their own in order to achieve their dreams of not only making it to the industry, but of helping their beloved families financially as well.Among them are the celebrities listed in this TWBA Toplist, who proudly opened up about their past jobs outside showbiz during their respective interviews with the King of Talk in the now-defunct late-night talk show <a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/tonightwithboyabunda" target="_blank">Tonight With Boy Abunda</a> in previous years.Let’s begin with Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, who, you may not know, worked as a waitress at the hotel where her parents used to stay and as a factory worker in a paper manufacturing company in the United Kingdom after her initial showbiz stint here in the Philippines in the early 2000s. Aside from wanting to keep herself busy at that time, she also wanted to extend financial assistance to her family. This explains why she considers “people who are rude to waiters, security guards, people in the service industry” as among her pet peeves when asked by a netizen through an Instagram Q&amp;A in 2023.Before joining <a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/pbbotso" target="_blank">Pinoy Big Brother Otso</a> in 2018, Kaori Oinuma worked first as a caregiver in Japan at the age of 16. But the “Kawaii Daughter ng Japan” only did it for a month during their school summer vacation since she didn’t want to lurk doing nothing and, at the same time wanted to help her mother who was on the same job. The Filipina-Japanese stunner gave the money she earned from it to her sibling as her way of helping with their educational needs.While it was known that he was working as a waiter when he joined and eventually won the Mr. Q &amp; A segment of <a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/itsshowtime" target="_blank">It’s Showtime</a>, not a lot of people, perhaps, know that Nikko Natividad worked various odd jobs, which includes being a florist in the United Arab Emirates.“Hindi naman po talaga ako breadwinner, pero, Tito Boy, lumaki ako [na] independent. Ayokong humihingi sa pamilya ko, gusto kong kumita sa sarili kong pera. Hindi ko alam, Tito Boy, kung bakit gusto kong yumaman. Siguro [dahil] marami akong bagay na gustong gawin,” Nikko related.Prior to charming us with his handsomeness when he joined the pioneer batch of PBB, not a lot of people probably know that Sam Milby’s first-ever job was as a service crew for a famous fast-food chain. He told the King of Talk that working there for four to five months was a humbling and great learning experience for him, although he gained 20 to 30 pounds because of eating their burgers daily.Both his parents may be in showbiz, but Tony Labrusca actually experienced hardships growing up, especially when they got separated and his mother brought him to Canada where they lived for years. He experienced juggling various odd jobs, one of which was working as a cashier at an RTW store where he first encountered Kathryn Bernardo, with whom she worked two years later in the 2017 series <a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/lalunasangre" target="_blank">La Luna Sangre</a>. He may be known for mostly his light and fun roles in the teleseryes and movies that he starred in, but Ketchup Eusebio’s story in real life is relatively far from being fun. In his conversation with Tito Boy, he divulged that he started working at the age of 16 as a service crew for a pizza parlor. He had to give up his dream of finishing his studies to give way to his siblings’ education and to also help provide financial assistance for his family as well.Aside from that, the seasoned character actor also experienced working as a sales clerk in a department store, a banquet server for a catering service provider, a freelance videographer, and a theatre performer. He went on to share that there were instances when he had to juggle three jobs in a day!While we initially knew Brenda Mage, or Bryan Roy Tagarao in real life, for his stint in the Miss Q &amp; A segment of <a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/itsshowtime" target="_blank">It’s Showtime</a>, he used to work as a stand-up comedian in Japan. He became in-demand and popular among their customers and the Filipino community there after his short vlogs went viral on social media. However, even though he was being re-hired by his employer, Brenda decided to decline it and just pursue a career here since his former job got him drained.Lastly, while we admired his bubbly personality and fighting spirit during his PBB Otso stint, Big Winner YamYam Gucong further earned our respect when he recounted the hardships he went through in life in his younger years. Seeing how his parents were having difficulties in providing for the needs of their family, he decided to stop studying and to work various odd jobs, such as a water and bread delivery boy, a helper at a furniture workshop, a carwash boy, and a houseboy in Cebu City. These celebrities are indeed proof that our hard work and sacrifices will eventually pay off as long as we continue to persevere and choose to endure the hardships that we’re going to encounter along the way. Everything will definitely be alright in time.

The celebrities in this Toplist proudly opened up about their past jobs outside showbiz during their respective interviews in Tonight With Boy Abunda.