BF loses voice as Catriona wins crown
From the time Catriona Gray began joining beauty contests, her boyfriend, Clint Bondad, knew that a title bigger than her first, 2016 Miss World-Philippines, was waiting for her.
“I could feel it deep in my heart,” Clint, a Filipino-German model-actor, told The STAR yesterday barely an hour after he arrived in Manila from Bangkok on a commercial flight, while Catriona took a private plane owned by former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson. Chavit’s daughter Richelle Singson-Michael, who was in the audience at the 2018 Miss Universe pageant in Bangkok last Monday, was on the same flight.
“She was the most prepared, the most beautiful and the most intelligent,” recalled Clint, who sat at the balcony section of the Impact Arena where Catriona bested 93 other aspirants to bring home the country’s fourth Miss Universe crown. “She’s the in-the-moment type, determined
to achieve whatever her goal is.”
Clint almost didn’t make it to Bangkok because he booked a ticket late. But from where he was, Clint kept on cheering for Catriona. In the end, as Catriona won the crown, Cling lost his voice. He sounded a bit hoarse during yesterday’s interview. When Catriona’s name was announced the winner by host Steve Harvey, Clint “flew” (his word) from the balcony to near the stage as he kept shouting, “Catriona, Catriona, Catriona!!!”
Asked what encouragement he gave Catriona, Clint said, “Just making her feel that I am behind her. I’m not the kind of boyfriend who meddles in his girlfriend’s activities. I would say that I am the cheering kind of boyfriend.”
Although they were communicating by long-distance regularly during the pageant, after Catriona won, Clint said that they have not had much time to talk.
“We did talk on the phone and she told me how tired she was,” noted Clint. “She said she was lucky enough to have two hours of sleep every night, and sleep is what she badly needs now.”
Tomorrow, after her quick homecoming, Catriona will fly to New York which will be her home during her yearlong reign. Clint said he understood that they would have less and less time to talk but he hoped to pay her a visit. Meanwhile, Clint will focus on his acting career as a contract artist of Reco (he was formerly with the Viva Group of Companies).
Like Catriona, Clint is 25 and himself a beauty contest winner, having finished first runner-up in the 2016 Century Tuna Superbod contest, the same year Catriona won Miss World-Philippines and represented the Philippines in the 2016 Miss World pageant in the US and landed among the Top 5.
At first, Catriona was hesitant to join another pageant but her friends egged her on, winning the 2018 Miss Universe Philippines last March.
“She is very positive, so down-to-earth and so familyoriented,” added Clint, who is just as competitive as self-driven Catriona, although he said he is more “future-intending.”
The sweethearts have been going steady for almost seven years. They met at an elevator on their way to separate appointments. Clint was then enrolled as a Business Administration student at Trinity College in Quezon City. He admitted that they sometimes talked about marriage but that’s as far as they would go.
“Just talk about it,” said Clint. “We are not in a rush.”
Not now, anyway, when Catriona would be preoccupied with her myriad activities as Miss Universe.