If you are the general public, chances are you are familiar with our movie stars but not with our socialites.
Tessa Prieto defies the odds. She is a legitimate socialite, comes from a family belonging to the country's elite, has her own home in Forbes Park—but the public is familiar with her.
You might even say she is, among socialites hereabouts, the most relatable, never distant or snooty in a crowd, forever smiling in fact, and always witty and funny.
Tessa, at 61, still keeps a high profile.
Plays bubbly host at events. Writes for the business and lifestyle sections of the family-owned Philippine Daily Inquirer. Maintains relations with showbiz personalities and sundry celebrity. Graces television shows like Family Feud, Drag Race Philippines, and Celebrity Duets, whose 2007 Philippine edition she ended up winning. And while her FB is on personal, she is in IG as seaprincess888 with 110,000 followers.
Her branding cannot be missed: showroom outfits that are striking, maximalist, over the top, one of a kind. Not to forget those matching headpieces, which are also just out there.
But beyond the colorful and the outlandish and the pattern-upon-pattern that announce her coming, who is Tessa Prieto, really?
PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) takes a closer look at the life of this legit socialite with the many hats.
BORN to the rufino-prieto clan
Maria Theresa Isabel Prieto Valdes—addressed as Tessa—is the eldest daughter of Marixi Rufino-Prieto, herself a socialite and a philanthropist, and Alex “Poplex” Prieto, a well-known businessman who passed away in November 2024.
Tessa's Rufino-Prieto clan is an influential one with business interests in real estate, wholesale and retail, freight forwarding, and media.
The family’s holding investment firm, Pinnacle Printers Corporation, is the majority owner of the newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer, along with such related platforms as digital publishing, tabloid publishing, and broadcasting.
Given her family’s involvement with the Inquirer, it comes as no surprise that Tessa writes society features on Saturdays and a property column, "My Square Meter," on Sundays. But, mind, she speaks of subjects she actually knows.
Tessa moves in the circles she writes about, for one. For another, she had a couple of years of Architecture at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, and holds a degree in Interior Design from the College of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA.
Today she owns the Tessa Group, an interior-design firm catering to residential and commercial properties.
tessa sells lucky charms and has met the dalai lama
In an interview published in the Security Bank* website, Tessa reveals that she co-owns the online feng shui shop Frigga Home, in partnership with Marites Allen, a certified feng shui practitioner.
Tessa has always been taken with feng shui, as much as with Buddhist teachings, a fascination that deepened following a meeting with the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.
“He spoke about some basic stuff about karma," Tessa recalled for the same Security Bank interview. "He said that you have to live like you are living for the karma of your next life.”
In true Tessa fashion, however, she had to add: “After that, I went shopping! I was so
enlightened but I’m still materialistic, so I don’t think I’ll become a Buddhist anytime soon. Maybe in the next life, maybe just in the next life.”
(*Security Bank once ran testimonials from prominent clients. Tessa's said: "Banking client since 2010.")
the story behind tessa PRIETO's flamboyance
Tessa is known for her fashion sense, routinely described as vibrant, flamboyant, attention-grabbing, and thoroughly Tessa. You might wager that if there were something Tessa would not be caught dead in, that would be a dress that is the exact same one another guest has on at the very same party.
She has to be different. No, not just that—she has to be custom, she has to be unique.
Her clothes weren't always this loud. In a chat with media personality Dr. Vicki Belo, Tessa admitted that there was a period in her life when she was big only on stark blacks and quiet neutrals.
It was a preference that stayed with her following the devastating death of her brother Louie, then 33, in a motorcycle accident along South Luzon Expressway in 1994.
Tessa was at the time a single mom to son Bryan, just seven years old when Louie passed away. “My son Bryan was so close and attached to his Tito Louie, who was like a dad to him,” wrote Tessa in her Inquirer column, September 6, 2020.
In one media interview, Tessa shared her story as a teenage mom: “I was taking Architecture in UST for two years, and then I got pregnant—oops! At that time it was a scandal! Oh my god, I was like 19.
“Then my parents sent me abroad, and it was an embarrassment. Nowadays when you have a kid [who gets pregnant], it doesn’t really matter.”
It was a tough period in Tessa’s life—losing a beloved brother, raising a first child alone, living and studying abroad—and her untiringly dark attire seemed to reflect the dark world she occupied then.
Eventually, something shifted in Tessa. Perhaps she came to the epiphany that she could not go on living life overwhelmed, abject, and hidden because of one, or even two, personal tragedies. Everyone, after all, has been struck with tragedy of one kind or another. And she—born to name, money, privilege—at least had much more going for her than most.
Regaining a newfound love for life, Tessa made the huge inner change visible to the public, once again through fashion.
Soon after, the dark outfits—"I was super punk”—were replaced with statement outfits that looked engineered to stun.
“So, I said I'm gonna start dressing up in whatever way I want. Kasi ito na yung expression ko of wanting to live it up. And I love color!
"I'm an interior designer, di nila alam. Akala nila fashion designer ako."
As usual, self-aware, witty, funny, Tessa just had to say: "People think na weird or kulang sa pansin or ganyan. But I said if people were to call me out na, 'Bakit ganyan ka?,' I'm not naman telling people, 'Bakit ka ordinaryo?'"
Turning serious, she said in the same interview: "For me, I don't have to justify what I do. I'm only answerable to God and my family."
In any event, dressing up as a brand had clearly become Tessa’s “outlet,” and “it snowballed into being weirder and bigger!”
In the blink of an eye, Tessa became known to the public as the pretty, rich, friendly woman with the flashy outfits and fancy headpieces.
She doesn't deny she feeds the brand with lots of shopping. “Money can buy happiness, even if it’s temporary,” she jested in Lifestyle Asia in 2022.
A surprising tidbit from an Upsize! article: Tessa does not own a pair of jeans! Well, correct that one. She does—just not your ordinary, regular, conventional, run-of-the-mill jeans.
tessa IS INTO sports
With a crazy schedule that includes late-night parties and events, you might assume Tessa has no time for minding her health.
Wrong.
She actually swaps evening dresses for workout shirts, sports bras, leggings, and trainers. She likes to stay in shape.
Particularly passionate about running, Tessa has participated in marathons abroad. Locally, she's also very into it.
“I have a group called Girls Run for Breakfast every Friday, and we meet to do our long runs, but normally the breakfast is longer than the run!” a laughing Tessa said in the Security Bank feature.
“I’ve done two marathons, which are full 42k runs—one in New York and one in Paris. And I’m thinking about doing a Tokyo marathon, but I think I worried that at my age maybe I should just take it easy,” she mused. "It’s really, really gruelling and strenuous."
Then adds: "And, of course, who cares about my finishing time? I have the most photos and the most glamorous crossing of the finish line!”
She also, by the way, plays golf, does yoga, goes pole dancing, and scuba dives.
using influence for good
It would be easy to dismiss Tessa as just another rich girl who parties, shops, travels—all of which she in fact does.
But as aesthetic-medicine doctor Vicki Belo would have people know: "Tessa has a heart of gold."
Actively involved with classmates through the Assumption HS 81 Foundation, a charitable organization, she works at helping underprivileged youth pursue an education.
Co-founding the Red Charity Gala with Kaye Tinga, president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Tessa likewise supports persons and organizations through fashion fundraisers highlighting the work of Filipino designers.
Tessa brings it all back to her mom and dad.
“Everything that I’ve learned as far as like giving back and charities, that’s my mom’s side," Tessa told Lifestyle Asia in August 2024. "And then my generosity with other people, and my social being is, I think, from my dad.
“So, I’m like a happy combination of both of them. And I’m hopefully passing it on to my kids.”
marriage to dennis valdes
Tessa first met businessman Dennis Valdes in 1993 during a scuba diving trip to Anilao.
Her scuba diving instructor was mentored by Dennis, who tagged along for the day.
Her first impression of Dennis, Tessa said to PEP in 2015, is that he was “super boring and intelligent” and “straightforward.”
It would take several months before they communicated again, as Dennis was based in Hong Kong where he worked as a regional marketing manager. Despite the distance, Tessa and Dennis remained connected through messages by telefaxes and overseas phone calls.
One story has it that Dennis once invited Tessa to attend an Italian opera in Hong Kong, and Tessa agreed, on condition that Dennis book her a business-class plane ticket.
Tessa would later change her impression of Dennis, saying he is “actually kinda funnier than I expected him to be” and “he’s super witty.”
Their getting-to-know-each-other phase covered the time Tessa was grieving her brother's death.
Dennis witnessed Tessa’s transformation from a self-conscious woman in casual shirts—who, in her words, “was into grunge [music]”—to a devil-may-care woman in adventurous gowns as she embraced "carpe diem" in her life.
The couple sealed their whirlwind romance in a 1994 wedding with a medieval theme—a theme that, of course, was Tessa's idea.
“It might seem that he’s the one making sure the relationship lasts, but I do my share, too,” Tessa is quote saying by Inquirer Lifestyle, June 23, 2019.
Adding, “It’s really a constant balance. You’ve got to keep working at it.”
For the couple, working on the marriage meant giving each other space for individual interests, allowing them to live together but independently. That is, without feeling the need to get involved in everything the other one was doing.
For some time that approach worked for the two, who, aside from being strong-willed individuals, were very different in temperament and personality.
“I cannot so lose my persona that I become a nonentity,” Dennis said in the same Inquirer 2019 interview. “That would be fatal to the relationship. I need to be able to break out.”
Of course, there were many things the couple loved doing together, the biggest of which was traveling, which perfectly suited their curiosity.
This passion was reflected in the themes of their marriage milestones: celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary with a trip to Africa, hosting a Game of Thrones-themed party for their 20th anniversary, embracing the safari motif to commemorate their 25th year.
Read: Tessa Prieto-Valdes, husband Dennis Valdes renew wedding vows on 25th anniversary
the tessa and dennis separation
To outsiders, Tessa and Dennis had a marriage that thrived despite major differences in their individual makeup.
As Tessa tells PEP in January 2025, their marriage was one where "most of the time it doesn’t work," yet they managed to stay together.
And so it was that the public was stunned when the couple ended their marriage of 26 years.
Read: Tessa Prieto opens up about breakup with husband Dennis Valdes after 26 years of marriage
In an exclusive interview with PEP in August 2022, Tessa shared this: “It was very painful, and, of course, I felt betrayed.
"But in the end, after a year and a half, I decided, Ay, it’s time that it wasn’t mine to fix but mine to let go.
"So, nice. I feel that my journey at this point is more purposeful with my kids, and [what] I want to do is to share my healing with others.
“Of course, it’s very traumatic and negative... but it’s so easy if you have support groups, if you have people that love you and that see you in that new phase you are [in]… the friends.”
All the same, Tessa held back from revealing the reasons behind the split, which happened in 2020.
"I think, you know, things happen, and I’m one not to bash my husband. He's still the father of my kids. I love him so. But, you know, we have moved on.
“Mine is like… I don't want to share it with all the negativity. Because I'm not coming from a broken, awful marriage. I'm just coming from… may nangyari lang… alam mo yun?"
At the time of the PEP interview, the couple had not yet begun the annulment process, with their focus then the division of properties.
“No annulment, but separation of properties, wherein what's his is his, what's mine is mine," Tessa explained.
"Whatever, we eventually give it to the kids. I need to protect my kids.”
In an interview with Lifestyle Asia, Tessa reflected on her marriage and hinted that they may have grown apart. “We evolved; in my mind, I thought we both progressed equally in our same dimensions. But you can’t really tell.”
In January 2025, Tessa tells PEP that their annulment papers had come through: "The official sort of stamped, sealed, delivered was, like, January 3 of 2025. First working day."
tessa's journey to healing
After the separation in 2020, and way before the formal annulment papers were underway, Tessa went overseas to heal herself.
While there, she plunged into all sorts of therapy—floating meditation, challenge courses where she had to trust intuition, equine therapy. "Equine therapy is therapy with horses," Tessa explains. "Like passing command to the horse without riding. Did that in Arizona with a shaman."
Back here, she began or resumed certain practices—Vinyasa Yoga with teacher Francis Flaviano, scuba diving, pole-dancing classes, Zumba, Bible studies—and, she admits, lots of retail therapy.
“It’s like a tsunami happened, and I’m going back to shore, then see the devastation," Tessa tells PEP thoughtfully.
"But if I look at it from afar, it becomes a matter of clearing the debris—instead of wondering how I can possibly rebuild.”
With optimism, she muses: “When something is no longer meant for you, it hurts more to hold onto it than let go.
“After going through all the emotions and all the crying is done, I deliberately changed my mindset to get all excited about all the new memories to come.”
tessa's brief love affair
By 2023, Tessa indicated she had recovered from the painful end of a marriage and was ready to fall in love again.
Read: Is Tessa Prieto in love again after separation from husband?
"Officially, next month, two years. I'm so happy. I've already come to terms with everything. I'm so excited for new love,” Tessa said to PEP in a February 17, 2024 interview after she hosted an event at Blue Water Day Spa.
"And again, I spent a year of therapy. But this year talaga—let go, let God.
"And I'm also into self-love, and I have a new grandchild! So, I realized—one member left but I have a new one.
"And in the end, it's really prioritizing what your purpose is in life."
When the interview turned gamier, PEP asked about romance. Could she see herself romantically involved with a younger guy?
Her quick response: "Yes, I am! Why not?"
Continuing, she said: "I mean, I think, like, age is relative. If a person comes into my life... I'm not gonna ask how old you are or anything. That's not even relevant.
"I think you fall in love with the person because of their being, not their age, or gender, or anything."
In late 2023, Tessa created a buzz that left netizens wondering if she was in a new romance.
November 23 of that year, Tessa posted on Instagram photos taken at the Sahara Desert in North Africa.
She tagged an Angel Chua, with Tessa writing: “Grateful for life [heart emoji] love, peace, happiness, joy, and understanding….. Moving forward and balancing #life now with love [heart emoji] and compassion!! #sanaall #blessed.”
However, in a brief message sent to PEP on December 18, 2023, Tessa revealed that she and Angel were no longer together. That she gave no details and was uncharacteristically stoic were a portent of this being more than a simple breakup.
But, Tessa would say simply: "My family is the most important thing in my life, and I choose my family."
Read: Tessa Prieto breaks up with partner Angel Chua
TESSA'S NEW LOVE
A year later, on December 23, 2024, Tessa attends the premiere of Uninvited, a Metro Manila Film Festival entry starring Vilma Santos, Aga Muhlach, and Nadine Lustre, holding hands with a new love, Irene Nubla.
Garbed in an outfit that comes with a cape, she gives a brief interview to event host Robi Domingo. Here she does a "jowa reveal."
In a text message later sent to PEP, Tessa Prieto declares: "Love wins!!!!"