Kelsey Merritt back in PH, goes surfing in Siargao: ‘Feels good to be back home’

Kelsey Merritt is back in the Philippines.

The Filipino-American model recently spent some time in Siargao Island.

“Feels good to be back home,” she posted on her Instagram page.

In her post, Kelsey shared snapshots of herself surfing with friends and enjoying the island.

Fans online were quick to react to Kelsey’s post.

“Looks like the best trip,” one fan commented.

“Surfer Kelsey is back,” another fan wrote.

Kelsey made history as the first Filipino woman to walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and appear in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

In a 2025 interview on Valeria Lipovetsky’s Not Alone podcast, Kelsey looked back on how her modeling career began, recalling how she was initially scouted in Manila before receiving an opportunity to pursue modeling in New York.

“I was discovered by this New York director for Wilhelmina Models at that time on Instagram. I remember I was a sophomore in college, and I was doing a paper and I got an email. And it said ‘Modeling in the Big Apple,'” she recalled.

Kelsey, who was only 17 at the time, shared that her father initially had reservations about allowing her to travel to New York on her own.

“It was really this legit guy who discovered Coco Rocha. My dad talked to him for two hours because he was telling me to go to New York on my own. My dad wouldn’t let me. I was like ‘I’m good, I’m old, I can do it.’ But now in hindsight, I’m like okay, that was fair,” she shared.

Looking back on her modeling experiences in the Philippines and New York, Kelsey reflected: “What was actually fascinating [was] in the Philippines growing up biracial, I was always the white girl. And then I get to New York and I was always the Asian girl. It was discombobulating to me because I grew up being the white girl and now here I am the Asian girl, so it was just really weird to like experience that.”

During the interview, Kelsey also opened up about her financial investments, including purchasing a home in Los Angeles, California. She credited her modeling career and opportunities in digital media for allowing her to make significant investments over the years.

“There’s so much money to be made in digital media. So the combination of both, the modeling and digital media, I’m just very grateful to have both,” she said.