In all the years that Pinoy Big Brother has been on the air, it’s been called many things, and has taken on different forms of imagery—from a fishbowl, to a fortress of doom, to a boiling pot being stirred by unseen hands. But for recent PBB housemate Bianca de Vera, it was, in her words, a “retreat.”
Borgy Angeles
Although she stands at a lithe 5’2”, de Vera looks straight into you through great, big round eyes. They battle for your attention with her signature pouty lips, which move a mile a minute as she opens up to Allure Philippines about the changes wrought in her by her stint inside Bahay ni Kuya.
“Before going inside the house,” she tells us, “I was really broken, and completely lost. Being in the house was a total reset for me.” The 23-year-old Star Magic artist first broke into the industry at age nine, on Junior Masterchef Pinoy Edition, and, years later, gained popularity on TikTok, where her followers now number just under 2 million.
After taking on supporting roles in several television and digital series, including playing Pat, the younger sister of Kathryn Bernardo’s character in 2 Good 2 Be True, and Gwen, who falls in love with fellow housemate Will Ashley’s character in the ABS-CBN and GMA network collaboration Unbreak My Heart, de Vera, an only child, entered the Big Brother house dubbed “Ang Sassy Unica Hija ng Taguig.”
You’d think that a burgeoning showbiz career and a massive following on social media would put any young woman on cloud nine nowadays, but the way de Vera tells it, she was in the midst of a journey of self-discovery, which, admittedly, is not uncommon for someone in their early 20s, no matter how successful they are deemed to be.
“I couldn’t find my footing in this world,” she shares, describing her personal state prior to setting foot inside the house. “I felt like I was such a big disappointment to my family, when, in fact, I can now see that I wasn’t. I just wasn’t secure as a person. Basically, I was just really finding myself.”
For anyone at that point in life, embarking upon a challenge as colossal as PBB could be catastrophic for their mental health. But as it turned out, there, in Bahay ni Kuya, tucked away from the rest of the world, with the noise of showbiz and the constant hum of digital chatter blocked out, Bianca de Vera began to find herself.
“Inside the house, we didn’t have any outlet that we could turn to when we were dealing with our feelings,” de Vera explains. “In the middle of a rollercoaster of emotions, all we had was each other. We had no choice but to face whatever we were feeling.”
With that, she explains, she—and the others—learned how to face things, no matter how difficult or unpleasant, head on. “We couldn’t run away from what we were facing. We had to deal with whatever was in front of us. I feel like it created such a positive outcome.” Whether it was the challenges thrown at them as part of the show, or dealing with different personalities, or even with devastating personal news, such as the death of her dog Peach, for which she was allowed to venture out to say goodbye, de Vera had to face them all.
Patience, she says, is the biggest lesson she learned from her PBB “retreat.” “All my life, I’ve wanted things to be fast-paced, always moving on to the next thing. But inside Kuya’s house, I really learned how to be patient, not just with other people, but with myself.” For de Vera, life, now, is best appreciated at a slower pace, “being present, breathing, and just enjoying life,” she says.
These days, back in the real world and dealing with a schedule now rife with showbiz commitments, de Vera actually finds herself sometimes wishing she can head back inside Bahay ni Kuya, if only to revert to the slower pace she now misses.
As it turns out, for the always-forward-thinking de Vera, who is used to life in the fast lane as an actress, internet personality, and, incidentally, as the daughter of a race car driver who has taken the wheel herself, a reset of the pace of her life, and a reassessment what she truly needs for and from it, is what she has taken home from the PBB house.
Borgy Angeles
“My idea of wellness and how to take care of my mental health, it changed for me completely,” she shares. “Now, I want to focus on myself, not just physically, but internally as well. After being a housemate of Kuya, I want to focus on myself more—my body, my mind, and my soul.”
Grab a copy of Allure Philippines’ Wellness Issue here.
Production design: Justine Arcega-Bumanlag
Photographer’s assistants: Rojan Maguyon and Pao Mendoza
Makeup: Anthea Bueno
Hair: Renz Pangilinan
Styling: Joy Bernardo and Jolo Bayoneta of StyLIZed Studio, assisted by Jethro Barrietta, Ayi Custodio , Ashley Jamlang, Beatrize Lagco, and Stephanie Satorre
Art direction: Nicole Almero
Beauty direction: Trina Epilepsia Boutain
Writers: Leira Aquino and Lia Cruz
Special thanks to Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab Edition and Star Magic
