Read an excerpt of this month’s MEGA Entertainment cover star on how he is proudly living his truth.
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“This whole experience, honestly, has allowed me to grow and really learn new things about myself, and I’m enjoying it, you know? Dito, walang help so you have to do everything yourself, and I’m enjoying that. I’m enjoying the time that I have here on my own; meeting new people meeting new friends, and we’ll see where it goes. ‘Cause right now I’m taking up meetings for possible work here. So we’ll see. We’ll see. Yeah. There’s a lot of exciting things down the line, hopefully.”
The future is definitely exciting now that Mond Gutierrez has opened himself up to all the new possibilities his life can now bring. But is love part of his exciting future?
“I’m still very much single but I am talking to a few people. And I think like what I said, I wanna not rush. I wanna take things slow. I’m not in any rush to be partnered up or to get married or have kids or anything like that. A lot of my friends and my family already have that.” And in terms of a partner, Mond’s criteria is pretty attainable.
“Definitely I see myself with someone, but marriage and kids, not so much. [laughs] Kids, maybe that’s a no. I see how my friends and my family are with kids, and honestly, like, I don’t know how they live their life. Like, it’s tough being a parent, and I’m not ready for that. I feel like I’m still a bit too selfish living my best life to worry about kids right now. In terms of a partner, I think all the good qualities that a lot of people want; respect, loyalty, for me, a good sense of humor, and good moral values, willing to travel, open-minded, those are the good qualities, I think,” Mond enumerates.
But all in all, Mond Gutierrez is in a very happy place on his own. He said he’s lived most of his life as a twin so he really appreciates this time he is able to spend by himself, enjoying the freedom of LA, the place where he grew up in.
“I think being free, being true to yourself, being unafraid, knowing your self-worth, I think all those are super valuable to my happiness.”
Mond Gutierrez
“And before, I didn’t give credit to that. I always put myself last. I always put my siblings first, my friends first, and I was not the main character of my story. But now I am in my 30s, but it’s never too late to start your story, to start your journey, and I want people to follow suit, people who may feel a little bit stuck, who feel that they’re not good enough, and they feel like the ship has sailed; it has not? I feel like you still have the world to conquer and you’ll be happier on the other side.”
Read more of Mond Gutierrez’s coming out story in MEGA Entertainment’s August 2021 issue available in Readly, Magzter, Press Reader and Zinio
Photography LESTER VILLARAMA
Creative direction JANN PASCUA
Grooming DAPHNE DEL ROSARIO
Styling NIKKO PANTI
Special thanks to FWRD MAN
