Get to know Bethany Talbot and what’s it like for her to be a student, football player, and model all-in-one
The prestigious Professional Models Association of the Philippines (PMAP) recently welcomed among its ranks Bethany Talbot, a Bacolod-raised, fourth-year student taking up BS Mathematics in UP Diliman. Having joined PMAP in October, she made an appearance at PMAP’s 35th anniversary celebration at the Hilton Hotel last November 22. Notably, Bethany is also a member of her university’s varsity football team, and has been playing the sport for several years.
Football seems to run in her family’s blood. In an interview with Bethany, she shared that she grew up in a “football family” as her dad used to play professionally back in England. After her older brother took up the sport, she was the next to decide to pursue football at a young age.
Playing the sport for years has clearly made an impact on her personal life and her ability to balance it due to the long hours of training and team-building. “A lot of things about myself is from football—a lot of personality traits like how perseverant I am, how committed I am, [and] how disciplined I am,” she said.
Nonetheless, Bethany sees modeling as a more realistic career path for her than football in the Philippines. “I genuinely see a career for me in this, especially now with how much I’m enjoying,” she added.
“I always loved posing and being in front of the camera,” Bethany remarked about her modeling. She used to only model for her high school fashion shows and her friends’ start-up businesses up until the pandemic when she was officially discovered by someone who needed female athletes for their shoot.
It all snowballed from there as agencies began finding her, too, but her dedication to football remains, especially when it comes to her training. “Because football is my priority in terms of how I build my body, I just really am strict in following my coach’s programs,” she said. As a football player, she focuses on strengthening her legs and keeping herself fit, even if it means becoming more muscular, which some clients might not want.
She also mentioned that sometimes, at modeling jobs that offer lunches and dinners, she’s had to decline salads because she needs to eat a whole meal since she typically comes from training in the morning. “It is kind of hard sometimes to balance that and to keep a certain figure that the modeling industry would look for, but at the same time, try to keep the body that a football player would need,” she shared.
Clearly, while she enjoys both football and modeling, they’re not without challenges. However, she said that she’s at the point where she just eats what she wants, keeps herself healthy, and trains as much as she needs to. “I don’t try to change myself, especially for the modeling part. I’m not that conscious anymore of trying to fit a particular body type,” she said.
Apart from having to reconcile the body standards for both roles, Bethany also said that she grapples with the exhaustion that comes with being a student-athlete and model. Dealing with football training, exams, and modeling jobs in a single day can be tiring and chaotic, according to her, but she also said that it feels fulfilling.
“Even if I am exhausted, I really do enjoy training in the morning, modeling in the afternoon, and school at night. It can be draining at that moment but when I conquer [all of it], I’m so satisfied, I feel so fulfilled, and at the end of that day, I did enjoy every part of it,” she said.
With all that said, Bethany is grateful for every single achievement, from being booked for commercials and brand campaigns to playing for UP in UAAP this February. “I just remember when I was younger and my dream back then was to just, you know, play football there in Bacolod. To now be where I am, to have played for the national team, and now to be part of UP and playing in UAAP, that’s, I mean, an unbelievable achievement for me,” she shared.
And for those future games, she may continue her pre-game ritual of taking her necklace off at the very last minute. According to her, the necklace is special because it had been given to her by her girlfriend for her birthday and its pendant is designed to look like her birth flower.
“In general, I don’t like taking off this necklace because—I don’t know—it just makes me feel safe. It’s a very special necklace. I’ve only worn necklaces given to me by special people in my life, so I feel like it makes me feel that I’m doing this not just for myself, but [also] for these people that I look up to and that inspire me. So I think it makes me think of a greater purpose whenever I get into a game,” Bethany said.
Photos from BETHANY TALBOT (via Instagram)
