A decade on, Pia Wurtzbach reflects beyond the crown

A decade after her historic Miss Universe win, Pia Wurtzbach is looking back with clarity.

In a post shared on Facebook, the former beauty queen revisited the night that changed her life, unpacking what the crown meant then and what it represents now, ten years later.

“Ten years,” Pia began, admitting that revisiting her Miss Universe journey was not an easy decision. “I’ve gone back and forth about posting this because revisiting Miss Universe forces me to sit with what it meant to me then and what it means now. And that requires honesty.”

“What I know for sure is this. My Miss Universe experience changed my life in real and lasting ways,” she wrote. While the crown was symbolic, she emphasized that the transformation came from something deeper.

“Not just because of the crown, but because of the people who made that experience what it was. The care, the guidance, the sense that you mattered not just as a winner, but as a woman going through something transformative.”

That human element, she said, was what gave the experience its power. In an era when pageants are often measured by scale, glamour, and global reach, Pia offered a more grounded metric.

“A title on its own means very little without the right people behind it,” she reflected. “You can have a big production, amazing theatrics and a global stage. But the truest measure will always be the women who walk away saying, ‘That changed me. That gave me confidence. That opened doors. That made me believe in myself.’”

“Those voices matter. They always will.”

Her reflection did not shy away from complexity. Pia acknowledged the criticisms that continue to surround beauty pageants, while firmly standing by the authenticity of her own journey.

“Despite the ups and downs, despite the criticism beauty pageants often face, my experience was real,” she wrote. “It was demanding, emotional, imperfect, and deeply meaningful. I am grateful for it. I will never take it for granted.”

Now firmly outside the pageant world, Pia made it clear that distance has not turned into indifference.

“I may no longer be in the pageant world, but I will always care about what Miss Universe can represent when it is done with intention,” she said.

For her, that intention must always center on the women themselves.

“When it centers on the experience of the women. When it remembers that the girls are not just part of the show, they are the heart of it.”

The post closed with a note of enduring connection and gratitude — to the people who stood beside her throughout the journey and to the experience that reshaped her life.

“To the people who made my journey what it was, you remain family to me,” Pia wrote. “Ten years later, I look back with gratitude. It changed my life. And I hope, truly, that it can continue to change lives in the ways that matter most.”