FILIPINO-American Miss Universe 2022 R’Bonney Gabriel is drawing widespread support online after Miss Universe president Raul Rocha compared her social-media numbers to those of other titleholders.
A circulating video showed Rocha, speaking in his native language, saying critics were “jealous” of Miss Universe 2025 winner Fatima’s success, pointing out that the new queen gained three million Instagram followers in a week.
He then contrasted this with Gabriel’s following, noting she had “only around 800,000” nearly five years after her reign.
Gabriel responded in the comments: “I’m so tired of being measured by follower count.”
Pageant fans rallied behind Gabriel throughout Wednesday, urging others to help push her account past one million.
Gabriel reposted several of the messages on her Instagram Stories.
By late afternoon, her following surged from about 900,000 to 982,000 and continued to climb. As of this writing, she now has 1.1 million.
“The overwhelming love and support… this is insane,” she wrote.
Gabriel has long addressed questions about her social-media presence, saying in earlier interviews that she refuses to measure her worth by numbers.
“Honestly, I don’t really care because the numbers are just a number,” she said. “As long as I’m growing and using the platform to share my work, that’s enough.”
