Bea Millan-Windorski gave the philippines pageant cycle a personal hook on Saturday, May 2, 2026, when the Miss Universe Philippines 2026 winner named Michelle Marquez Dee as both her inspiration and celebrity crush. The comments put a sharper profile on the new queen before she takes the country’s next international turn in Puerto Rico later this year.
In an exclusive interview with Chika Minute on 24 Oras, Bea said she deeply admires Dee for the pride she takes in her identity as a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community and for her sense of fashion. She also used a separate Fast Talk segment on Fast Talk with Boy Abunda to call Dee her celebrity crush, turning a personal choice into one more data point about the image she wants to project.
Michelle Dee as the model
“As someone who is proudly part of the LGBTQIA+ community, it was just amazing to see a woman who proudly owns her identity and who is also so fashionable,” Bea said. “Something I would love to bring in my reign as Miss Universe Philippines is to be more fashion-forward like Michelle Dee,” she added. That puts Dee at the center of Bea’s public identity as she starts the Miss Universe Philippines 2026 job.
Bea’s remarks also show the kind of ambassador she plans to be. She said, “Continue promoting the rights of OFWs, protection for our environment, increasing the quality for our trans brothers and sisters is really what makes me continue on this journey,” linking the crown to causes she wants to carry through the year.
A crown with added pressure
“For me, I've heard that I'm not enough my whole life, whether that be from Americans, they say I'm too foreign or from Filipinos who say I'm too American,” Bea said when addressing criticism about her citizenship. That friction has followed her even after the coronation night, making her early appearances part celebration and part argument over who gets to speak for the Philippines.
Bea answered that pushback by framing the title as more than a sash. “At the end of the day, this journey is about being enough for myself and enough for the communities that I want to support,” she said, a line that lands harder because the new queen is still defining the terms of her own reign.
Puerto Rico later this year
“It's just when the culmination of so much hard work and effort to be able to represent my chosen home means the world to me and it's really an emotional moment to not only bring the talents of the Filipino people internationally, but to carry the hopes and dream of of all my co-delegates who joined MUPH,” Bea said as she looked ahead to the international stage. “I'm ready to make you proud in Puerto Rico. I promise to work hard and really make our country proud,” she added.
That is the practical next step for readers tracking this pageant run: Bea is no longer just the newly crowned Miss Universe Philippines 2026, she is already positioning herself around representation, fashion, and LGBTQIA+ pride before she leaves for Puerto Rico later this year.
