BEHIND THE ENIGMA

THE Inside the tireless mind of the quiet Maureen Wroblewitz

- BAM V. ABELLON

Maureen Wroblewitz is in the process of defining herself.

There are hints of that as she walks inside a Makati City studio one Wednesday morning purposeful and calm in her walk, yet awkward and shy in demeanor-an indistinct enigma.

She later admits during our interview that those contradictions are a product of years of concealing and ignoring her life’s demons and baggage, and finally, facing them head-on during a recent spiritual awakening. Inside her, there are always forces that push and pull at the same time, especially when it comes to living life under the spotlight.

As we engage with the model-actress-beauty queen, she reinforces our belief that we found in her the ideal muse, who could represent the ideas we want to portray is this month’s cover: the idea of the unknown, of the hard-to-define, of going against conventions, of the new, and of the future.

TO BE A DISNEY PRINCESS

The spotlight was never something Maureen wanted on her, even as a young girl grinning at the sight of Disney stars, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato, and dreaming of acting in front of a camera. “They were inspirations to me,” Maureen says, her voice palpably still excited about the memory. “I wanted to be a Disney star, but I was extremely shy growing up. I thought, ‘How am I supposed to do interviews? How am I supposed to talk to people?’ It was all very scary to me.”