REIGNING Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach asked her followers to stop bashing actress Jessy Mendiola who was criticized on social media.
“Seriously though, enough w/ the Jessy Mendiola hate. Confident Filipinas should be celebrated, not condemned. #NoToBodyShaming #NoToBullying,” said Wurtzbach in her tweet last Aug. 2.
Mendiola was bashed by followers of Wurtzbach after the actress stated at the FHM Philippines victory party that she was bigger than the beauty queen these days when she was named the sexiest woman in the Philippines based on online survey.
“Talo ko pa si Pia Wurtzbach di ba? Nakakaloka ang ganito, sobrang overwhelming. Kung siya confidently beautiful with a heart, tayo sexy, so confidently sexy with a heart,” said Mendiola in a video that went viral.
Mendiola, 23, said that her remarks were taken out of context.
Wurtzbach has defended Mendiola, saying that there was nothing wrong with her remarks.
“What I saw was a girl who was just really ecstatic to be given that recognition. Nothing wrong with that. Congratulations, Jessy!” the beauty queen said. Wurtzbach finished No. 15 in the same survey.
Wurtzbach has earlier revealed that she has experienced bullying in various forms.
“I experience bullying in different forms. I experienced it in school. I felt like I was the odd one out growing up in the province because I was half-Filipino and half-German, so I wasn’t full blooded Filipina and of course I was the tallest in my class and I felt kind of awkward. I went through an awkward phase and even when I was an actress, there was a lot of scrutiny there as well,” she said.
The Filipino-German beauty queen has encouraged the public to “accept our differences” so that they will become accepting.
“What we need here and the rest of the world is a change of values… to accept our differences. That is a fact of life. And the more we become accepting, the more we become tolerant. And the more we care,” Wurtzbach added.
Fans of actress Angel Locsin have also bashed Mendiola after they suspected she was the cause of the split between Locsin and actor-television host Luis Manzano. Mendiola is romantically linked to Manzano.
