BB calls himself `androgyny in the process’
BB Gandanghari, the former Rustom Padilla doesn’t want to label his sexual orientation and would rather describe himself as “androgyny in process.”
This, he said in an interview in Bandila on Tuesday, August 21.
People may see him as gay, but BB feels the other way around.
“As an orientation, I may be considered as a gay person, but deep in my heart I feel the other way,” he said.
BB added, “I’m very honest with my God when I said I want to be a woman.”
Discrimination in the US
BB admitted experiencing discrimination in the US when he worked as a model in New York.
“Mas ngayon lang talaga ako nabubuhay bilang si BB, ngayon ko lang nakikita ang reaction sa akin ng tao. When I went to the US two years ago, doon na ako nagpakilala bilang si BB, doon ko nakita na iba. Sabi nga namin sa America, ‘Oh we’re the new black now.’ It’s really discriminating.”
Coming out
BB shared that he planned to join Pinoy Big Brother so he can reveal his sexual orientation to the public. It will be recalled that a butterfly landed on Rustom while he was talking to fellow housemate and first PBB Celebrity Big Winner Keanna Reeves inside the PBB house.
“At that time when I wanted to come out, ‘PBB’ was the perfect venue for me. Because I really wanted na isahan, ayaw ko na mag-explain each group na isa-isa. That was plan na it would be my venue to talk to the Filipinos, to the public who have been supporting me all these years,” he said.
When Bandila host Boy Abunda asked BB why his transformation contradicts Rustom’s statement that he doesn’t need to dress like a woman, BB replied, “I take offense not because people call me Rustom, I take offense because we have to give it to Rustom. Because if I am Rustom, I wouldn’t be dressing up this way exactly the point because ganoon mag-isip si Rustom, kasi lalaki siya eh, gay man siya, but ganoon siya.”
BB insists that he is a different person now and not the Rustom people used to know.
“I’m dressing up this way and I talk this way because I am BB,” he said.
