Yassi takes the high road
In the age of social media, you measure how far a celebrity has arrived by his/her number of followers, how frequent bashers try to destroy him/ her, and just how destructive their posts are.
New Silka brand ambassador Yassi Pressman has 2.4 million followers on Instagram, 1.25 million on
Twitter, and more bashers than she can handle.
When she reads bashers’ comments about people and things she loves — her family, acting and dancing — Yassi becomes the girl next door who breaks down and cries her heart out over forces she can’t control.
“But I think I treat my family well,” she protests.
She can always correct the bashers, of course. But the problem is, they will find reason to hit her again.
“When they say something negative and you correct it, they’ll say something else. They won’t stop. You can’t please everybody,” observes Yassi.
For her, the worst part is, bashers can hound you from the moment you wake up, leave home and call it a day.
“I hope bashers realize everyone has feelings, that everyone must think before they click,” Yassi sighs.
But since she knows locking horns with them is fighting windmills, Yassi decided to do the next best thing: Ignore bashers and focus on doing her best. At least this one she can control.
“Be strong. Don’t compare yourself with others. Be the best person you can be,” she says, speaking more to herself than to audience that came to meet her that rainy afternoon.
Yassi knows torturing yourself with bashers’ comments is the fastest route to destruction. Instead of growing, you’re paralyzed. Instead of blooming, you’re terrified.
Yassi’s shield is her support system — friends and family who give her life more color and meaning.
One of the persons she always runs to is her dad. To her, dear dad can do no wrong. Will he allow her to go daring when the chance to do so comes along? That’s the least of Yassi’s worries. “My dad’s liberated. He’s more western in his thinking,” replies Yassi. Besides, shifting from wholesome to daring hasn’t occurred to her. Yassi has many other things on her plate. She enjoys playing wife to Coco Martin’s character Cardo on ABS-CBN’s Ang Probinsyano. Yassi is single, and has yet to have a child, but she loves the challenge of acting like someone she’s not on screen. “I love my character (Alyana) so much,” reveals Yassi. It helps a lot that she’s learning a lot from the veterans — Susan Roces, Joel Torre and Coco himself. Yassi is also looking forward to working with Sam Milby for the first time in the romantic comedy film Ang Pambansang Third Wheel. She’s working seven days a week but Yassi doesn’t mind. Work on the TV or movie set makes her day. “I hope I’ll still be in this industry three to five years from now. I can work behind the scene if I have to. I don’t mind starting from the bottom as production assistant.” This attitude will take Yassi to places she’s happiest in — where bashers are ignored, and those who believe in her call the shots.