Pia Wurtzbach Opens Up About Her Married Life

Love can happen like the Big Bang. In a fraction of a second, a speck of nothing—a casual hello, a text, a cup of coffee—can explode to become everything. You’re in the throes of love before you know it. 

Other times, love forms the way stars do—steadily and slowly. Elements across the cosmos make a million-mile journey to reach each other, permanently binding together in a spectacular display of light and sound. This love takes time, but waiting is half the joy of finally finding it.

For Queen of the Universe author Pia Wurtzbach, the love she shares with her husband Jeremy Jauncey falls comfortably in between. Things might have begun as love at first sight, but they’ve maintained their perfect planetary alignment with maturity, respect, and trust. Pia reminds couples that when the initial crackles and sparkles of the Big Bang subside, the partnership they’ve built is what will, and should, last. 

In a conversation with Pia, she gives her take on what she thinks a healthy marriage needs and talks about her evolution from girlfriend to Mrs., relationship green flags, and what the priorities of a 21st-century woman are. 

Wondering out loud 

“...Before our first proper dinner date…I looked at myself in the mirror. I had one last look at myself just before I stepped out. I said to myself, ‘I wonder if this guy is, you know, my future husband. Crazy, I know! ‘What if’ lang, no.’ It actually crossed my mind for a second,” Pia says. It was mostly because he was such an ideal guy, she jokes, and because their meeting was so random it didn’t feel real. 

Pia was on a UK holiday with family, and Jeremy happened to be in the same location one evening. The two already knew each other, thanks to Instagram, but had never met. As the story goes, Jeremy struck up a conversation with Pia and got a hold of her number. The pair decided on a coffee date. 

If anyone should guess, it wasn’t just the caffeine causing the flutter in Pia’s chest.

More dates would be scheduled soon after with several of them spent in breathtaking places across the world. Jeremy is the CEO and founder of Beautiful Destinations, a media company that creates travel-focused content for high-end clientele. This, of course, meant that he was more than happy to accept the challenge of planning epic dates for a woman at the top of her game. 

A little over two years of, as Pia calls it, panliligaw would pass before Jeremy would pop the question. He asked Pia to marry him on a private floating bar in the middle of a tropical sea, with gently lapping waves providing the soundtrack to the moment.

Pia said yes. She and Jeremy were always fated to become Mr. and Mrs., titles both of them cherish deeply.

Giving love a backbone 

Seven months into their marriage, what’s more meaningful to note is why Pia said yes, first to being Jeremy’s girlfriend and then to being his lifelong partner. 

“We’re aligned in our values, the things that we want to achieve,” she begins.

“We both really value our careers. I love that he doesn’t expect me to slow down with work and put my life, my work, my identity aside. I also don’t expect him to stop traveling and the things that he’s doing for me,” she adds. 

She explains that the backbone of their relationship has always been allowing each other to maintain their individuality while going through life as a couple. Uniting as husband and wife is not synonymous with saying goodbye to her fun, driven single self. In fact, for Pia, getting together with Jeremy enhanced the qualities she loved the most.  

“I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression when I was Miss Universe. Since then, I’ve still been getting professional help, seeking a therapist every now and then. I really felt a difference in my mental health when I started seeing Jeremy, especially when our relationship grew more and more, and we got closer together,” she opens up. 

She continues, “I felt less anxious, happier. I was smiling more, laughing more, singing more, dancing more, joking more, showing more of my personality. I think of it this way: I felt that my cup was filled up and maybe even overflowing that I have some to share with others… It’s really amazing how being with the right person can not only change you, but also bring out the best in you.”

She doesn’t note a particular gesture or moment that convinced her that Jeremy was it. Instead, it’s the all-encompassing sense of security he’s been able to give her that won her over.   

With Jeremy by her side, Pia knows she can pursue her goals while still being able to come home to a partner who supports her every step of the way. All the great things she’s been able to do on her own, he makes better, then augments. Likewise, Jeremy can continue to travel the world for his career without ever making Pia second guess his commitment to her—even if this entails being away from each other for a few months at a time. 

They both allow each other their space to grow in order to be the best versions of themselves for each other. 

Work to make things work 

All in all, love isn’t a feeling for Pia. It’s something to be acted upon beginning on your first day of courtship up to your nth wedding anniversary and beyond. 

With this in mind, what she wishes more couples were conscious of is that relationships don’t flourish on their own. They work to make them work. 

Pia advocates for couples to get to know each other by learning to have conversations about awkward and potentially unsexy things—like each other’s spending and saving habits, debt, thoughts on having or not having children, values, career planning, and even gender-based expectations in a future marriage. 

“I try to share this more on my social media just because I post a lot of our sweet moments and our fun moments. And it looks like everything is always rainbows and sunshine all the time. But honestly, Jeremy and I, we talk about everything. We have very good communication, and we talk about all the big questions,” Pia reveals. 

These are ongoing conversations that start “before you say yes to forever,” she emphasizes, and they continue as you’re getting to know each other more honestly. 

According to Pia, there’s also no timeframe for when a person can say they’ve gotten to know their partners inside and out. The real gauge in seeing them for who they are is when you’ve braved challenges together, navigated arguments, and for some couples, when they’ve lived together and agreed on a system of coexisting. 

Besides, Pia adds, “It’s also much easier to talk about these things while you’re in a good place and everybody’s in a good mood. When the moment comes, you know that this is something we ironed out ages ago. It should be easy.” 

Miss Universe and also Mrs. Jauncey 

Ask Pia how married life has changed her, and she’ll say it hasn’t. More importantly, she’ll say it shouldn’t. Marriage to her is a leveling up of an existing relationship and shouldn’t feel limiting in any way. 

She’s not a Miss Universe that became a Mrs., but a Miss Universe and also a Mrs. In this modern world, she’d like to be a model to women in how she handles her career, herself, and marriage. All three take up equal amounts of space in her life. It’s a combo that’s even better when a woman can find a partner who supports her success as he does his own. 

In some way, married life is a continuation of her pageant journey that truly never ended.

“Whenever people would ask that pageant question, ‘What is the essence of a woman,’ the acceptable answer before was, ‘The essence of a woman is to bear a child, motherhood.’ ’Yun ’yung sagot dati,” she says.

“...It’s not the answer anymore. I think the essence of a woman is really finding herself, knowing herself, and knowing what she wants, and going after her goals… The true essence of a woman is knowing herself and wearing her crown proudly,” Pia states. 

Without a doubt, Pia has walked her talk. 

After her pageant run and before meeting Jeremy, she starred in a few movies, hosted her travel show, Pia’s Postcards, on Metro Channel, and is one-third of the trio behind the podcast Between Us Queens. This year, she added “author” to her resume with the launch of her novel, Queen of the Universe. 

When it came to love, she also knew what she wanted, and wasn’t afraid to push things forward with Jeremy following her own preferences. When she felt things were getting more serious, she told him she would appreciate it if they dated the Filipino way: go on dates, see if a connection forms, and then ask her to be his girlfriend. 

Jokingly, she tipped him on how to fast-track getting her mom’s approval, too: he should never, ever decline the offer of food in a Filipino home. It’s the fine print of dating a Filipina.

“He’s not Filipino but he was very much game. He was very patient with that… I’m just happy that we’re in a stage of our lives where we’re closer, more mature, and more ready for the next step, which is spending the rest of our lives together,” she smiles. 

The start of the rest of their lives

The world has seen Pia look stunning a hundred times over, but there was no other day when she looked more beautiful than her wedding day. 

Only three people witnessed Pia and Jeremy exchange “I dos” in their Seychelles ceremony. The choice to have a tiny ceremony was an unconventional, though intentional, choice for Pia. The idea was greenlit by both their families before planning ensued. 

Why Pia wanted an almost-secret wedding is telling. 

She explains, “I have this thing where every time I sit in a makeup chair and I get glammed up, and I go to a shoot, that’s work. And I don’t want my wedding to feel like another work day. I wanted the complete opposite.”

“I didn’t have to worry about anything but getting my vows right and savoring the moment. I wanted to savor it so much,” she continues. 

On March 24, 2023, a tearful Jeremy met her as she emerged from behind a canopy of island flora. And so, on the shores of a tiny island in the Indian Ocean, Pia and Jeremy were forever united as one, committed and willing to make each other’s lives even better than before. 

There may not have been any shooting stars, eclipses, or other unique cosmic events on the night of their wedding, but with a universe of opportunity in her command and a husband like Jeremy joining her at the helm, Pia has all that she needs in love and in life. 

Photography by Andrea Beldua

Creative direction by Chookie Cruz

Editor-in-chief: Geolette Esguerra

Sittings editors: Grace Libero-Cruz and Kate Paras-Santiago

Art direction by Raff Colmenar

Videography by CJ Reyes

Shoot coordination: Red Dimaandal

Editorial Assistant: Mika Yusay

Marketing Officer: Alexandra Camus

Makeup by Mickey See, assisted by Angelu Dominguez and Rene Rima

Hairstyling by Renz Pangilinan, assisted by Randolf Cullanay

Styling by Perry Tabora, assisted by Kris De Leon

Photography assistants: Mario Pepito and JR Baylon

Shot on location at Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar Quezon City

Special thanks to Anelle Charity Pendang; Andee Que and Tiffy King of Gucci; and Mark Yambot, Kristine Hernandez, and Noella Fonbuena of ABS-CBN Books