I was fortunate enough to have gotten myself invited to an exclusive, “by invitation only” launch of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach’s book entitled “Queen of the Universe” at the iconic Casa Buenas restaurant in Newport World Resorts, Pasay City last week. The book launch and signing coincided with the cover reveal of a high-end fashion magazine featuring the universal queen—her third for the same publication.

During the newly married Pia's speech before the Filipino-Spanish-themed dinner was served, she expressed her excitement over how local bibliophiles received the new book.

“Aside from unveiling the cover, we’re also celebrating the book launch 'Queen of the Universe.'  I’m so excited about this book.  A few days ago, I was told that this is the number one bestseller in National Bookstore. It is number one in literature and out of stock in Fully Booked,” she enthusiastically exclaimed.

Launching the book was a long time coming.  Per her admission, Pia said writing it and putting it all together was completed as early as the middle of the pandemic.  However, since Covid-19 practically stopped almost all business undertakings, publishing it had to wait for quite a while. ABS-CBN books eventually made sure her now popular work got published and distributed to the proper channels.

“I am so excited. We worked on this for so long, and now it’s here.  Thanks, ABS-CBN books, for believing in me,” she said.

Over dinner, the three-time Binibining Pilipinas aspirant shared more information about “Queen of the Universe,” a fictional piece.  While most people expect the book to be Pia’s biography somehow or, at the very least, based on her own story, she said the characters generally did not refer to any specific people in her real life. 

The beauty queen revealed that she enjoyed the flexibility of writing fiction since it provided her with more room to breathe life to certain characters that existed only in her own mind.  When asked if her mentor, Jonas Gaffud, inspired any of the characters in the book, she readily said, “No,” claiming that the person who acted as the lead character’s pageant mentor is a woman. The only similarity Pia shared with her protagonist is the fact that both of them entered pageantry.

Speaking of pageantry, as most fans wondered how Pia ended up doing a shoot with her Miss Universe 2015 first runner-up, Ariadna Gutierrez of Colombia, Pia said it was just a chance encounter that she saw as an opportunity to finally close a still-open chapter in both their lives after 8 long years.  Who made the first move, I asked.

“I did,” Pia answered. The encounter led to the epic photo collaboration, which trended in the pageant universe for days.  It took many shots to get the published shots approved by both of them finally. “We made sure both of us were beautiful in our chosen shots,” she chuckled.

After that long chat with the country’s third Miss Universe and days after the dinner ended, I realized why Pia has remained relevant and why her stories are still widely followed by her millions of fans worldwide. Obviously, this queen’s reign still hasn’t ended.  She still is, Miss Universe."