Deborah Ohana is an actress, model, writer and the host of a popular blog for tall women. When she was in her twenties, the age when most people consider to be middle aged, she decided it was time to reinvent herself. Ohana wanted to find a new line of work and needed to look into a career as a hostess in a large hotel lounge. She knew that she had to have strong roots, so she turned to researching the ancestry of her family, which was based in San Francisco, and found out she was Filipino.
Ohana does not have a Filipino heritage, but was born in England. Due to British citizenship, she was not eligible to become a British subject automatically, but she applied anyway. The British ruling authority denied her application due to her short height, but she was allowed to live and work in the U.K. under the Condition of Admission to the Family Immigration Control Regulations, of which says that any immigrant who is at least six foot tall should be allowed to stay permanently in the U.K., provided they remain unemployed for two years and do not reach the age of 70. Ohana met her husband when she was working in a club for tall men in London and he became fond of her.
It was not until she began her fourth and final year at university that she began thinking about marrying and having children. Being committed to her academic work, she did not feel the need to mingle with the local people, which is something that many do as they age. She describes herself as ‘a very private person’ and has never been out of character since meeting her husband. The couple got married in 2021 and celebrated their first year as parents by travelling to Hong Kong. Ohana now has three children and a new book entitled “The Filipino Syndrome” is currently being written.