Heart Evangelista is the only Filipina to speak at the Global Town Hall 2020

Actress and fashion icon Heart Evangelista is the only Filipino woman to give a talk at the virtual international event Global Town Hall 2020. In fact, she used the platform to raise awareness and remove the stigma surrounding mental health.

In an interview with GMA News Online, Heart shared how proud she is to represent our country and grateful to have given the opportunity to speak about topics like mental health.

“I feel like every time a Filipino goes somewhere I’m very proud.

“I’m also very proud I was given a platform to talk about the things I’m passionate about. It also inspires me to do more. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that someone would contact me to talk about what I’m really passionate about. It gives more meaning to what I do.”

As a matter of fact, Heart has been vocal about her own experiences dealing with her mental health and battling through her anxiety. Of course, through this platform, she spoke about the need to normalize talking about mental health in conversations and get rid of the stigma.

“It’s something not a lot of people talk about openly. It’s not as normalized as it should be.”

“This is a personal topic for me. I, myself, for what I’ve been doing for 24 years — all the pressure of showbusiness, trying to be beautiful, trying not to be scandalous, and all of that — that does something to you subconsciously, in a way damages your soul.”

The actress, then, emphasized for everyone to know that it’s okay to not be okay.

“Hopefully I was able to reach someone who needed to hear that.”

Aside from Heart, multiple global leaders such as the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo, World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Dr Mari Pangestu Managing Director of the World Bank Dr. Mari Pangestu, Executive Director of Manila Observatory  Dr. Antonio La Viña and political analyst Richard Heydarian gave their respective talks at the global event which aimed to discuss how to rebuild the post-pandemic world.