Read an excerpt of this month’s MEGA Entertainment cover story on Manila Luzon and how she met her husband and her message to the Filipino LGBTQIA+
Related: Homecoming Queen: How Manila Luzon Is Bringing Filipino Pride To The World Stage
Married to Michael Jeremy Alvarez for four years now, Manila’s relationship started out as a friendship. “I remember meeting him because I do remember meeting him the second time, but I don’t remember with any detail how we met the first time. [laughs] I remember the second time, he had come and he had brought a bunch of his friends to come support me at the bar. It was a small bar and he brought all of his friends with him and said, ‘Oh, we’re gonna go see Manila,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, okay. So, not only did you come back but you brought more audience members for me. I love you! Bring all the tips!’ [chuckles] Yeah, I mean, he was a sweetheart and then we started talking and I was like, you know what, this guy really opened up my eyes to what…He just have like a really good energy to him and he really had this drive and motivation to him that I was attracted to him,” Manila shares.
Michael worked in media sales at the time they met but now he has been producing with her and touring the world with her, helping her with her businesses. She doesn’t go anywhere without him. “He is working with me and he’s also doing sales for our vodka and he helps me. I brought him here to the Philippines so that he can be my voice so I don’t have to tita out. He could be like, ‘Hey, Manila’s gonna do that if you don’t get her some water right now.’ So, he’s helping me right now. And he’s like my emotional support animal,” [chuckles] Manila jokes.
But like any couple who ended up married, Manila remembers the defining moment when she could see a future with Michael.
“It was actually very early on when we were talking—and this is before we became romantic at all—but it was like just something more. I was like,
“This guy is kind of like the guy that I would want to spend the rest of my life with. If it’s not him, then at least find someone that is like that.“
Manila Luzon
And so, what had happened is that we started talking and then he stopped calling me back but it turned out he had lost his phone. So, he lost my number but he tracked me down because I’m kinda famous, and so he found me on social media and he DM’d me. So, yeah, then I was like, ‘Okay. Let’s not let this someone slip by again.’”
“Yeah, but we took it nice and slow. We were together for probably like six years before we finally decided. Yes! I had to make sure that he wasn’t just after me for my money or my fame!” Manila jokes.
Manila and other LGBTQIA+ members from more progressive countries enjoy. Sadly, here in the Philippines, we still do not enjoy that right. And for her Filipino LGBTQIA+ fans who wish to get married someday, Manila has something to say.
“I would say just be patient because it’s not a matter of ‘if’; it’s a matter of ‘when.’ It will come, trust me, ‘cause I didn’t think that it was gonna happen in the States and then it finally did. Eventually, as more people become more open-hearted and open-minded, they will accept that it’s really cruel denying people the chance to be with someone for the rest of life. But to be honest, it is literally just like a legal contract—if you love someone, then just be with them. And just be patient; eventually, you can get that little piece of paper. I know that it’s very religious here in the Philippines and so you kinda have to sometimes think like you’re going to separate it a little bit from what the Church is saying but still taking what you’ve learned from the Church about unconditional love and applying it to your relationship. You don’t have to necessarily have a middle-man; you just go straight to the Lord, honey.”
From coming out to meeting her husband, read more about the important role of drag in Manila Luzon’s life in MEGA’s December 2021 issue now available on Readly, Magzter, Press Reader and Zinio
Photography SEVEN BARRETTO of STUDIO 7 MNL
Creative direction JEB FRONDA
Art direction JANN PASCUA
Makeup MARLYN OCAMPO assisted by VIOLET OCAMPO
Hair IAN GARCIA
Styling GEE JOCSON assisted by MARKO JEFFERSON and MICHAEL LESOY
Photography assistants ERWIN BOTIN and PIERRE GUEVARRA
Shot on location at AVIGNON CLINIC, BGC
Shoot coordination KZ FRANCISCO and MJ ALMERO
Special thanks to AVIGNON CLINIC, CHRISTOPHER CACHUELA, CORNERSTONE ENTERTAINMENT, ERICKSON RAYMUNDO and JEFFREY VADILLO
