And the recognition keeps coming. Of outer beauty and inner beauty.

Although she’s already on our most beautiful list, we consider it an honor here at Team Hudgens that Vanessa is being recognised as one of People’s Most Beautiful for 2009. It’s a double honor when we think of the calibre of women she is classed with, and the fact that the feature is a celebration of beauty at every age.

As the sayings go, wash your hands and you can eat with kings (Queens in this case), or you make of yourself what you want to be. It is hard to control the things you encounter in life but you can control how you react to them and the type of person you turn out to be.

Vanessa was not born into fame or privilege. The first daughter of an average, middle class family with strong values, she’s had to shape herself and grow in a not-very-friendly environment, encountering various obstacles and making her mistakes along the way.

A budding performer, she’d set her heart on making it in the entertainment industry to her parents’ initial disapproval. They had good reason; they could foresee the cut-throat competition, exploitation and discrimination that a young girl who still saw the world with idealistic eyes could not yet see in her chosen industry.

She was very firmly stripped of that idealism, from being told at auditions that she was neither Caucasian enough, nor Asian enough, nor Hispanic enough nor anything enough for a role; to being duped into signing away half of her non-existent earnings by a producer who purported to help her because her parents, not being in the business, did not know better.

Even with unexpected fame in the form of High School Musical, she was still dogged with betrayal, scandal, lawsuits, discrimination, public scrutiny and ridicule.

The question begs to be asked, “In the face of all this, where does the beauty come from?”

The simple answer is from the heart. A heart that still chooses to see the world in a certain way while remaining pragmatic, that chooses to remain loyal to family and friends, that chooses to set relationships above ambition, that chooses not to be bitter or resentful of those that are favored or more successful.

A heart that chooses not to sacrifice its values for easy success, that chooses hope above despair, that chooses silence over retribution, that chooses to be strong where it counts. A heart that chooses to be comfortable with its imperfections and keep its focus on the things that really matter. A heart that chooses to love, laugh, and enjoy the simple pleasures of life on its journey to fulfil its dreams.

This is the kind of heart that breeds timeless beauty, the heart of a survivor that grows stronger with every obstacle overcome. And this beauty cannot help but be reflected externally, enhancing the outer beauty, deepening with age, and giving that luminous quality which can never be imitated by the best cosmetics or even plastic surgeons.

This is true beauty that is worth aspiring to. And this is why Vanessa will always be beautiful in our eyes.

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