Barbie Pascual Starred on Bravo’s Below Deck. Now She’s Converting to Orthodox Judaism.

Millions of Bravo viewers first met Barbie Pascual on Below Deck, where she made an unexpected confession: “I know my soul is Jewish.” At the time, she hadn’t yet formally begun converting to Orthodox Judaism.

By the time Pascual returned to the franchise most recently on Below Deck Down Under, that journey had become a central part of her life. She shared that while filming she was davening twice a day, lighting Shabbos candles, and living an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle. None of those moments appeared in the season that ultimately aired, which Pascual was disappointed by and saw as a missed opportunity to show the world the beauty of the orthodox Jewish lifestyle that drew her in and made her want to change her life around for it. 

Pascual said her journey toward Judaism began nearly a decade ago while working for an Orthodox Jewish-owned finance company on Wall Street. Eventually, she traveled to Israel. It was during a second trip, when she visited the Kotel by herself, that everything changed. “I stood there and cried my eyes out for two hours,” she recalled. “It was like a total out-of-body experience.”

“I remember crying and looking up and being like, ‘Hashem, what is this?’… I knew Hashem was saying, ‘You’re Jewish. That’s what this is.'”

From there, Pascual began the process of converting to Orthodox Judaism, a decision that required changing nearly every aspect of her life. She sold her home, moved into a Jewish neighborhood, left behind yachting because it conflicted with Shabbos, and gave away much of her wardrobe.

“It was years of sacrificing and changing absolutely everything,” she said. “It was one year, one step. The next year, another.” Today, Pascual keeps kosher, observes Shabbos, studies Torah, and says her life is immersed in Judaism. She also shared that her Catholic family has been incredibly supportive throughout her journey.

Pascual also had a message for Jews fortunate enough to be born Jewish. “Don’t ever take for granted that you were born Jewish,” she said. “It is the greatest gift.”

Asked what Judaism had given her that her life had been missing before, her answer came immediately. “My soul.”

“It’s grounding me. It gives me emunah and bitachon. Before, I would go through life wondering, ‘Is this going to work out? Am I going to get this?’ Now it’s going to be what Hashem wants it to be.”

Looking back at the life she once lived, she says she has no doubts about the choices she’s made. “Whatever amazing life I had before—famous, could wear whatever, travel wherever, eat whatever, no rules—I would give all that up any second to serve Hashem.”

Today, Pascual says she hopes to use whatever platform she has for something greater. “If I have a platform, it’s to do good,” she said. “Now my sole purpose is: How do I bring light? How can I elevate my platform? How can I bring light to Judaism?”

It is a very different mission than the one she set sail with on Below Deck. Perhaps that’s precisely the point. The destination, it turns out, was never luxury yachts or reality television, but it was something far deeper.

She may have entered the public eye through reality television. Today, she hopes the platform that once introduced millions of viewers to Barbie Pascual will instead introduce them to something much deeper: a life rooted in a genuine and meaningful relationship with Hashem.

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