MANILA  -- After reflecting on lessons she learned from her past relationship, Miss Universe Philippines 2022 Celeste Cortesi now wishes to keep her current romance with Spanish boyfriend Christian Balic out of the spotlight.

The Filipina-Italian beauty queen says she is making an effort to set boundaries to protect her relationship.

"I am very very happy. We have been together for five, six months but I have been hiding. I really want to protect this relationship right now. I don't want people to have a piece of it," Cortesi said in an interview during her contract signing with Viva in Pasig City, Wednesday afternoon.

"I feel sometimes my past relationship was very public. Many people had a lot of opinions. I don’t want people to have a piece of it. When the relationship is very public, people have more opportunities to take it away from you. People would have lots of opinions. I feel my relationship has to be private. At the end of the day, it is me with that person," she added.

Cortesi clarified that keeping her relationship private is different from making it a secret. According to her, she will still share some moments with her followers, as she deeply values her connection with them.

"I also like to give updates to fans or people following me. But as much as possible, I will keep this very private. There are always boundaries and limitations when it comes to that," she explained.

The beauty queen also shared that she hopes to do more films, particularly action projects.