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Metro Digital Cover: "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" Star Anne Curtis

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<div style="text-align:center"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:959px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1759399857122METRO x IT&#x27;S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY - ANNE CURTIS.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Anne Curtis, as photographed by Jerick Sanchez</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p><strong>Anne Curtis</strong> went from a child star in a fantasy show, local showbiz’s &#x27;It&#x27; girl, to the nation’s &quot;<em>Dyosa</em>.&quot; Now, she is starring in an <strong>ABS-CBN</strong> and <strong>Star Creatives</strong> show, <strong><em>It&#x27;s Okay to Not Be Okay</em></strong>,<strong></strong> which is breaking boundaries and raising awareness for mental health and the autism spectrum. And looking her most stylish best at that!</p><p>To see Anne wear haute couture by masters such as <strong>Mark Bumgarner</strong> and <strong>Cary Santiago</strong>, and maverick new style stars such as <strong>Axel Que </strong>is to witness a masterclass in how to bring clothes to life. Anne doesn’t just wear the clothes, she revels in them. She breathes meaning into them. She commandeers silhouettes to sparkle. She seemingly bends them to their will. </p><p>During one particular take at this Metro cover shoot, when the lighting technicians were adjusting the intensity and positioning of the spotlight, she spontaneously broke into song, declaring, “This is my destiny! To star in a musical!” The advanced acoustics of the <strong>Proscenium Theater </strong>made<strong></strong> her sound like a true stage star; so much so that one can’t help but think, if Anne Curtis really wanted to, she could conquer the musical theater scene, too.</p><div><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758778962080image_Metro x Its Okay to Not be Okay Anne Curtis embedUntitled Capture12056.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div><div style="text-align:center"><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758844177077Metro x Its Okay to Not be Okay Anne Curtis embed_Untitled Capture12089.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div><div><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:959px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758778827080image_Metro x Its Okay to Not be Okay Anne Curtis embedUntitled Capture12041.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">On Anne: Gown by Mark Bumgarner, gloves by Alex Perry, and jewelry by Tiffany &amp; Co.</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>Full circle moment</strong></div><p>After all the pomp and circumstance and grandeur of her photo shoot, Anne sits down for an interview in the Proscenium’s Green Room. She is giddy as a schoolgirl at the sight of the Steinway &amp; Sons piano and begins to play a few bars. Knowing that she also plays the piano, in addition to already being a television and silver screen actress, a noontime show host, a onetime VJ, a fashion muse, a marathon runner, and a wife and mother on top of all that, it is as if there is nothing she can’t do. After two grueling photo shoots and then an interview, she starts the chat with a rallying cry of “<em>Laban</em>!” Her star power and sparkling energy fill the theater with an undeniable magic.</p><p>For her current show, she was an uncredited wardrobe mistress and fashion coordinator, as her character, <strong>Mia Hernandez</strong>, is a diehard fashionista. But it goes way beyond the clothes.</p><p>“Fashion is a pillar of the show. It does play a huge role (in the show), especially for my character, Mia Hernandez. As someone with antisocial personality disorder, fashion came in as armor; she was protecting who she really was inside. That was her armor for what she was really feeling; it was armor for (the character to be) even feeling anything.  So you can see in the first few episodes, there are a lot of big, bold outfits. And it’s all by design; it was very much intentional. Mia is strong, bold, fearless, [and] emotionless. She just speaks her mind and has no care for other people’s feelings. And as she starts to heal, and fall in love, and find a family, you see the textures of the fabrics getting softer, more color, [it’s more] feminine. It’s something that I really wanted to be on top of, with the guidance of <em>Direk</em> Mae, of course. As a fan of the original, I wanted us to live up to everyone’s expectations, including my own.”</p><div><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758844303217image_Metro x Its Okay to Not be Okay Anne Curtis embedUntitled Capture12166.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div><div><br/></div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758842579114image_Metro x Its Okay to Not be Okay Anne Curtis embedUntitled Capture12158.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:958px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758842612235image_Metro x Its Okay to Not be Okay Anne Curtis embedUntitled Capture12164.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">On Anne: Gown by Mark Bumgarner, gloves by Alex Perry, and jewelry by Tiffany &amp; Co.</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>In a separate interview, <a href="https://metro.style/metro-style/people/2025/8/4/what-director-mae-cruz-alviar-s-adaptation-of-it-s-okay-to-not-be-okay-means-for-her-2230" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Direk</em> <strong>Mae Cruz Alviar</strong></a><strong> </strong>shared with us that, as a super fan of the original show, at the very beginning, she told Anne that it would be dangerous for the adaptation to stay too close to the source material.</p><p>Still sharing her thoughts on molding the fashion that went into the show, “I knew that I wanted to work with local designers. I felt that would be a way of making it our own. Collaborating with the designers, I gave them the liberty to interpret certain outfits, especially the iconic ones, the ones the fans of the show will say, ‘Yes, I know that outfit.’ It was really so much fun, working with the madames as well as the younger designers, so many creative brains of our fashion industry. And even with the foreign brands that I hunted online.” </p><p>Anne was so devoted to the show’s wardrobe that when we asked her to name her favorites, she declined: “Each outfit had a story to tell. Each scene was a big scene, and each outfit was a big one. From the fabrics to showing off our local outfits, the designers really worked hard, so I can’t play favorites.”</p><p>Even the show’s main location had a personal resonance for Anne. Her first-ever big break as a twelve-year-old aspiring actress was <em>Magic Kingdom, <strong></strong></em>helmed by the legendary Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes. Mia Hernandez’s ancestral home in the show was also featured in <em>Oro, Plata, Mata</em>, the breakout film of the directing duo. “They would tell me, ‘Feel <em>Direk</em> Peque, he’s here and he’s proud of you, he’s happy that you’re doing this.’ And I did, I really did feel that.”</p><div><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758842781092image_Metro x Its Okay to Not be Okay Anne Curtis embedUntitled Capture12360.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div><div><br/></div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758842831774image_Metro x Its Okay to Not be Okay Anne Curtis embedUntitled Capture12402 (1).jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div><div><br/></div><div style="text-align:left"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:959px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758843437892anne curtis quote for its okay to not be okay metro cover.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">On Anne: Gown by Axel Que and jewelry by Tiffany &amp; Co.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:left"><br/></div><div style="text-align:left"><br/></div><div><strong>Big outfits, big feelings</strong></div><p>Anne has often said that from the moment she first watched the show, it hatched a dream that she would be part of its local adaptation. “When I first asked Viva about it and found out that ABS-CBN already had the rights, I thought that was it. Then, at <em>Tita</em> Cory Vidanes’s birthday, Sir Deo [Endrinal] was also still with us then. They were saying, as they looked at Josh and me, since I was sitting next to Joshua [Garcia, her male co-star], ‘<em>P&#x27;wede</em>,<em> p&#x27;wede</em>.’ Since I have always been saying how much I wanted to do the show, people assume that I said &#x27;yes&#x27; right away. It wasn’t an instant thing for me. &#x27;Wait<em> lang</em>!&#x27; But it took me a year to decide! I kept on thinking, when it’s your favorite, you get nervous. Will I be able to give it justice? That was my biggest concern. It’s already so good. But the story of <em>It’s Okay To Not Be Okay</em> is bigger than what I was thinking. It&#x27;s making people who may be going through something feel seen. And I feel that was what made me say &#x27;yes.&#x27; Like, what am I doing worrying about, ‘Oh, are we going to give it justice?’ Like, the whole point of this is reaching out to a wider audience, especially in the Philippines, where there&#x27;s still a stigma [about mental health], I would say. When I found out it would be on free TV, I was so happy. Because the <strong>Netflix</strong> audience, they get it. But for the people reached by free TV, it could change more.”</p><p>When asked to ponder on her own insights as she crafted the character, and what impact doing the show has on her as a person, Anne confesses, “When people ask, &#x27;What do you have in common with Mia?&#x27; Mia is like, &#x27;I can handle everything by myself.&#x27; As I thought about it, I realized that, like her, I am also a strong person. But I realized that I don’t have to be a strong person all the time, that I can lean on another person once in a while—that softened me. I’ve always been like a Patrick, the carer, the nurturer. It’s okay to also realize that you don’t have to do it all by yourself.”</p><div><br/></div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758843918994image_Metro x Its Okay to Not be Okay Anne Curtis embedUntitled Capture12428.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div><div><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758846355370anne curtis metro its okay to not be okay quote 2.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div><div style="text-align:center"><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:958px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758844417034Metro x Its Okay to Not be Okay Anne Curtis embed_Untitled Capture12483.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">On Anne: Dress by Vania Romoff and jewelry by Tiffany &amp; Co.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center"><br/></div><p>Delving more deeply, she admits, “It didn’t become a caricature because the feelings I showed (as the character) were real. I had very big, raw emotions without going over the top.” </p><p>And of Carlos Aquino and Joshua Garcia, she says, “We did it for over a year, it made us so comfortable and so real. We were so in touch with our characters, our bonds. We were feeding off each other’s energy and emotions. We didn’t even need the actor’s cues; we just got into it. And that can only happen when you have the time to work things out.”  </p><p>Coming from an acting hiatus, she says, “I really missed acting. Even before this show, I began work on a movie, and as a warm-up, I did Meizner, and it really helped me to let go of the emotions of a character, leaving it on set, without losing my fire for acting.”</p><p>Anne does admit, “Mia’s so different from me, but now and then, her lower register will come out. Parts of her, good and bad, still live on in me.”</p><div><br/></div><p>Photography by <strong>Jerick Sanchez</strong></p><p>Metro Head: <strong>Christina Lopez</strong></p><p>Editor-in-Chief: <strong>Geolette Esguerra</strong></p><p>Sittings Editors: <strong>Grace Libero-Cruz</strong>, <strong>Randz Manucom</strong>, and <strong>Kate Paras-Santiago</strong></p><p>Managing Editor: <strong>Rick Formalejo</strong></p><p>Fashion Associate: <strong>Carla Buyo</strong></p><p>Stylists: <strong>Jolo Bartolo </strong>of <strong>Stylized Studio</strong>, assisted by <strong>Jetrho Barrietta</strong></p><p>Makeup: <strong>Robbie Piñera </strong></p><p>Hairstyling: <strong>Raymond Santiago </strong></p><p>Photographer’s assistants: <strong>Karl Rimando</strong>, <strong>Salvador Reyes</strong>, <strong>Dave Orpilla</strong>, and <strong>Dustin Estuche</strong></p><p>Intern: <strong>Sophia Ancheta</strong></p><p>Videoographer: <strong>Pat Buenaobra</strong>, assisted by <strong>Gimo Besinga</strong><strong></strong></p><p>Shot on location at <strong>Proscenium Theater</strong></p><p>Special thanks to<strong> Star Creatives</strong>,<strong></strong> <strong>Viva Artists Agency</strong>, <strong>Illo&#x27;s Catering</strong>, and <strong>Rockwell&#x27;s Tracey Castillo</strong><strong></strong><strong></strong><strong></strong><strong></strong><br/></p>

<p>Anne Curtis went from a child star in a fantasy show, local showbiz’s 'It' girl, to the nation’s "<i>Dyosa</i>." Now, she is starring in "<i>It's Okay to Not Be Okay</i>," which is breaking boundaries and raising awareness for mental health and the autism spectrum. And looking her most stylish best at that!</p>

Anne Curtis went from a child star in a fantasy show, local showbiz’s 'It' girl, to the nation’s " Dyosa ." Now, she is starring in " It's Okay to Not Be Okay ," which is breaking boundaries and raising awareness for mental health and the autism spectrum. And looking her most stylish best at that!

What Anne Curtis Realized From 'It's Okay to Not Be Okay' and What Aspect of the Series Will Live on in Her

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What Anne Curtis Realized From 'It's Okay to Not Be Okay' and What Aspect of the Series Will Live on in Her

Leah Puyat

Published Oct 02, 2025 07:00 PM PHT

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Updated Oct 02, 2025 07:08 PM PHT

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Mae Cruz Alviar

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