When singer Lea Salonga was asked recently if she knew many members of the LGBT community regard her like goddess, she gave lighthearted response.
"I'm not actually sure how I am, but I know that I am because there are a lot of gay people that say 'Oh my god I love you,'" she said in an interview with G3 San Diego on Instagram. "Maybe it's by virtue of me doing musical theater which is like one of the gayest art forms..."
The 49-year-old icon continued that many talents and creatives in musicals are members of LGBT.
"Not just performers, (but) it's directors, choreographers, makeup artists, clothing designers, wig designers -- everyone from top to bottom merong bakla, merong tibo," she told G3. "There will be someone from the LGBT community in some way, shape, or form in doing musical theater. So it's a very gay art from."
But how she became gay icon remains a mystery to Lea.
"Is it that I stand up for gay rights? Is it that I have siblings, cousins who are also members of the LGBT?" said she.
Life during pandemic
Lea also talked about her life amid pandemic; how she is as mother, wife, and artist during the lockdown and how it changed her perspective.
For one, she's more appreciative of the time she spends with the people she loves.
"I'm loving the time I get to spend with my daughter. I mean she has started online school and I'm the resident math tutor. So for her, it's like 'Yehey mommy is home all the time, the math tutor is at reach all the time,'" the singer said. "I think, for her, its been an interesting time because then I have to revisit those old concepts of mathematic that I haven't seen since high school; that I now have to figure it all and learn with her. So it's been a really good time."
As for her husband, Lea related he challenged her to learn something new that's why she started baking.
"He was like 'Can you learn how to make that?' All right, I don't back away from a challenge!" she said.
In truth, Lea did not think she'll be able to do it.
"I never thought I would have the patience to learn how to do it," she said.
In the end, she went for pragmatic: Start with something easy.
"So that at least you get the basic principles of kneading dough and figuring out what to do with it," Lea said. "Then you start graduating with something more difficult like I started off with Japanese milk bread, which is really not that hard. And then you move on with baguettes because my daughter wanted me to make baguettes for her as she likes it."
These days, she enjoys making sourdough despite that it takes more time than other types of bread.
Lea looks forward to the day when she can go back on stage.
"Because it's like, it's great doing the gigs here at home, it's great, it's fantastic. However, iba pa rin to be on a stage in front of thousands of people in the same room as you, breathing the same air as you. So looking forward to that day. It will be a while but I can wait. I'm very patient---I bake sourdough, I'm very, very patient."
'Do nothing'
Lea gave advice to people that deem themselves "unproductive" amid pandemic.
She actually advises them to enjoy the time doing nothing, saying that sometimes the best ideas come out of that.
"You cannot force creativity, you cannot force productivity," she reminded.
She said there are days when her brain is literally empty and she has zero motivation to do anything---and that's not a bad thing.
"You have to embrace the 'nothing' and allow yourself to recover because there's a lot that's going on in the world at the moment," she said. "So, embrace the nothing and appreciate the fact that there's nothing going on. And then sometimes, it's from there that inspiration will spring or creativity or productivity or the impetus to do something with your time."