Ellen Adarna: Impossible Princess

Mythical yet mundane, innocent yet sensual, accessible yet elusive: presenting Ellen Adarna, as you’ve never seen her before.

Words by Luis Katigbak
Illustrations by Lala Gallardo

Ellen is laughing, her laugh reflected in a crowd of bright blue balloons. Ellen is reclining, leaning back on an unusually shaped armchair, kicking her bare white feet up. Ellen is biting her lower lip, and looking at you.

Do you remember when you first saw her? Perhaps you saw her on the cover of a magazine, wearing slightly less clothing than would be polite in public, her little glossy mouth slightly open, her eyes steadily staring straight outwards, not accusing or inviting exactly, but speaking silently of the possibility of contact. But more likely you opened an email or ran a search online, and followed a link; it was like falling through a hole into a world of images, touching down abruptly on a field of thumbnails, each tiny picture a portal to its larger self, picture after picture of Ellen Adarna, a network of tribute, of Ellen to the infinite power.

Ellen Adarna was born and raised in Cebu, but she says “I’ve been in and out of Manila since I was two―my grandma and my parents used to bring me there a lot since we had an office there.” Speaking of family, she has four brothers: “I’m the only girl, I grew up with boys, so pretty much I was more of a boy during my childhood years.” Ellen as a tomboy, Ellen as rough-and-tumble―it is not easy, though definitely fun, to imagine. Her brothers apparently “don’t care at all” about her fame, internet-based or otherwise. “No one in my family cares about it, at all,” she asserts. “It’s a good thing for me ’cause I only do it for fun.”

Last year, she lived in Manila for about five months. She describes the experience as “dramatic,” and will not explain further.

You saw her once, in person. It was at a party in Makati, the launch of the second issue of a fashion and culture magazine. A band was playing; there was an exhibition of clothing designs; she was among the people who were milling around outside the bar. She was smaller than you imagined, and did not have the aura that you always assume famous people possess. You toyed with the idea of introducing yourself then, and had to remind yourself: You don’t know her.

Ellen claims that she’s not into sports. She used to do gymnastics, though, for three years. “At first artistic, then rhythmic gymnastics.” She can still do cartwheels: “That’s the only thing I can do now.” She also used to ice skate. When asked about how she keeps in shape now, she responds gleefully, “I love to dance! That’s my only exercise.”

An excerpt from the July 2009 issue of UNO Magazine. Still available in newsstands, folks!