In her memoir, Runway Model, she recounted, “I could not say anything. I did not feel anything either. There was no shock, anger, or sadness.” Such was her experience when Angie finally started hormone treatments to transition. A decision prompted by Angie’s father Archie King’s four-month hospitalisation in Germany and sealed by fate with his sudden passing in a helicopter crash in 2015.

Joey revealed that her relationship with Archie and Angie’s step-mum Ling-ling was initially complicated. “[They] were not too happy about our decision to get married, but I was grateful to see them at our reception,” she wrote in her book. This animosity was overcome by Joey’s steadfast support of Angie, which came to brighter light during Archie’s recovery in Germany. Joey wrote to her father-in-law about how much she appreciated and admired his strength, even comparing him to martial artist Bruce Lee. As she finished reading the letter, he mouthed back the words, “I love you, too.” From then on, Joey noted, it became easier to call him Dad and that Angie would begin brewing her courage towards self-acceptance.

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But as Angie became more comfortable with herself and her place in the world, Joey began to experience feelings of abandonment, turning to excessive drinking. One night, she drank herself into a stupor and crashed their car; Angie would see the damage the next morning. She also became standoffish towards friends and eventually found herself in a pattern of resentment and meanness. “I was swinging on an emotional pendulum of passive-aggressiveness because Angie was finding her courage without my help.” Realising she needed support, she signed up for The Hoffman Process, an eight-day programme focused on holistic healing and development. It was a life-changing experience and inadvertently prepared her for what came next.

Coming Out

“I was outed by Instagram,” Angie says. “Maybe because my two accounts [@hailtothe_king and @angiemeadking] were logged in on the same phone, registering the same IP, Instagram sent out a notification to my followers, revealing my second, then-secret account.” Group chats were atwitter, screenshots were being circulated, and Angie felt crippled, faced so suddenly with a moment she had been expecting (and dreading) all her life. “F*@k it—open the account,” Joey said. So, Angie did.

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While mentally preparing her escape plan of leaving the Philippines, closing business, and starting up elsewhere, Angie was shocked to receive more messages of love than hate. “There was very little resistance,” she says. “Even in the office, they said, ‘Mabait naman si Sir Ian [Sir Ian is a good person)], we’ll accept.’ I’m curious to know what we did differently. The statistic I’ve read on forums and books is that around 95 per cent of trans women lose friends, family, their jobs—everything. But here we are, and we weren’t ridiculed.”

As the Tatler shoot wrapped, Joey shared her thoughts on marriage, and how lacking in stereotypes their relationship is. “Just as a citizen of the world, living as a partner and spouse, I’m so in awe of how this has panned out for me,” she says. “Nine years ago, I was still stuck in the roadblock of categorising titles and gender roles … this was the programming, the upbringing … to shed that and break the boundaries of what societal norms were mind-blowing. [Angie and I] have no gender roles,” she explains. “The biggest compliment is that she chose me,” Joey says, looking earnestly at her wife. “Well, you look better than 80 per cent of [people on] the planet; you’re genetically gifted,” Angie playfully responds.

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Love Wins

Having conquered personal battles and hurdles, Angie and Joey now face a more public, perhaps, more significant, challenge. “The SOGIE [Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression] Equality Bill is one of the longest-running bills that have not been passed because the rule-makers are all on the opposite end of the spectrum,” Angie says. “They don’t understand it; they feel like it crosses over to their rights when, in reality, it doesn’t. It’s a protection for anyone who might be different from the binary male-female description.” The first version of the bill was filed in 2016 by the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Akbayan Representative Etta Rosales, now sponsored and lobbied by Senator Risa Hontiveros; it continues to receive deep scrutiny and resistance.

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Despite that ongoing legal obstacle to equality and full acceptance, Angie and Joey’s story of a shared struggle remains a revelation of what two humans in love are capable of when facing strife. Angie, who has received endless questions from strangers and friends on how they make it work, had this to impart, “I broke it down to Joey like this: If you wake up tomorrow and you like what you see, then let’s stay together. The day you wake up and say ‘Ayoko na’ [I don’t want this anymore], we’ll break up.” Years later, that day has not come, and both remain committed to being partners, above labels and beyond perceptions. “You learn self-love when you learn about boundaries. Anj and I—we’ve both gone on our own journeys,” Joey says. “You [have to] look into a relationship and try to find if there is something that is still joyful and beautiful.”

Although Angie and Joey are in a much better place than they were years ago, as individuals and spouses, Joey stresses that their relationship is an ongoing evolution. To all who say they are “couple goals”, she is quick to underscore the fact that they’re taking things a day at a time, one new experience after another, each discovery after the next. It’s not by any means a fairy tale, but both women remain eager to enjoy their journey, grabbing opportunities with a new zest for freedom. From flirting on the dancefloor to facing unfathomable burdens, The Kings are stronger than ever. Together, Angie and Joey are breaking barriers. Their secret? Being true to themselves, putting love and pride above all.

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This story was originally published in Tatler Philippines August 2022 issue. It is available in all leading bookstores, and downloadable from Zinio, Magzter, and Pressreader.

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