Her children call her “a political animal,” while her detractors call her, at best, a power-hungry villain. Is Imelda Marcos a brilliant politician, or just plain deluded?

Read some of Imelda's own words from selected interviews below.

"When you reach a certain level of leadership, people cannot be neutral with you. They either love, love, love you, or hate, hate, hate you."
—from a 2000 interview with BBC News

“We never had such a violation of human rights. In fact, we have had no human rights case here in the Philippines, even to this day. “
—from the film, IMELDA, 1998/2001

“It is not expensive to be beautiful. It takes only a little effort to be presentable and beautiful. But it takes some effort. And unfortunately people think of beauty as luxury, beauty as frivolity, ... or extravagance. Beauty is a discipline, beauty is art, is harmony, in the ideological sense and in the theological sense, beauty is God and love made real. And the ultimate reach in this world is beauty.”
—from the film, IMELDA, 1998/2001

“I seem to be able to only see the positive things in life and the beautiful things in life and when I see, for instance, garbage or ugliness, then I turn my back or I seem to be able to skip it.”
—from the film, IMELDA, 1998/2001

"I am my little people's star and slave. When I go out into the barrios, I get dressed because I know my little people want to see a star. Other presidents' wives have gone to the barrios wearing housedresses and slippers. That's not what people want to see. People want someone they can love, someone to set an example."
—from a 1980 interview in the Los Angeles Times

"I was born ostentatious. They will list my name in the dictionary someday. They will use Imeldific to mean ostentatious extravagance."
—Associated Press, 1998

“’Who is Imelda?’ I come from a third world country, third class province. And I was orphaned—and look, Imelda made it. If Imelda made it everyone can make it. At this age and stage I feel so good I’m still ready to fly.”
—from the film, IMELDA, 1998/2001

find out about the woman behind the words >>