Kathryn Bernardo —CONTRIBUTED photo

I’m still on my journey to being my best self,” said Kathryn Bernardo, whose physical transformation from teenage chic to sexy has been more evident this year, especially on billboards, magazine covers and social media posts that feature her.

“I’ll get there, but it’s going to take some time,” said the 28-year-old star, whose announcement in November 2023 that her 11-year relationship with actor Daniel Padilla had ended drew an even louder buzz compared to her recent hit movie “A Very Good Girl,” which was released only a month earlier.

“I started working out when I was 16. It’s my ‘me’ time. Whenever I have a free day or a late call time, I really enjoy working out. Through the years, it just evolved. I’ve tried different workouts,” said Kathryn, who was wearing a red cut-out dress with a thigh-high slit when she met reporters on Wednesday. This was during the launch of the “Best You Ever” campaign of a canned tuna brand, of which Kathryn is an ambassador.

Functional training

“For this particular campaign, they hired a coach for me,” said Kathryn, referring to Mauro Lumba, 2014 Superbod winner. “They got a nutritionist for me since I only had very limited time to prepare [for the launch]. I also became open to functional training. I usually do tennis for cardio, then pilates for the abs. Mauro introduced me to functional training in order to help me gain more muscles, especially in my lower body. I really enjoyed it.”

She continued: “I guess the lesson here is to be open to any workout [regimen], and stay with whatever works for you, just continue doing it. I carried on with my training with Mauro even though we’re already done with the shoot. My next goal now is to be more fit, especially for the finals in July. It’s good that I have more time to prepare for that.”

Bernardo —MARINEL CRUZ

Something special

The event also coincided with the introduction of the 36 Superbods finalists. The winners (male and female) of its ninth season will be announced on July 9. They will bring home P500,000 cash, while the runners-up will get P200,000.

Kathryn claims that this campaign is something special to her. “It means so much to me because this has been a dream of mine for the longest time. I’ve seen the brand’s campaigns through the years. I’ve waited for this. When they told me of their plan to get me as ambassador this year, I said ‘yes’ right away.”

The actress added: “Whatever happens, I hope the contestants will just enjoy their own journey. I know that for some of them, it took years of preparation. Win or lose, I hope they eventually become the best version of themselves.”

Meanwhile, Kathryn said she was “super grateful” to have received nominations as best actress from both the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (organizers of the Gawad Urian) and the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (Famas) for her work in Petersen Vargas’ “A Very Good Girl.”

“It has not sunk in until I received similar messages from our PR director and producer about the nomination. This is a first for me,” Kathryn beamed. “I’m not expecting to win anything. In fact, I didn’t even expect to get nominated. I’m just grateful. Win or lose, the other actresses also deserve their nominations.”