Liza Soberano opens up about abuse, traumatic childhood

GMA Network

15 hours ago

TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains mentions of physical abuse, domestic abuse, psychological abuse
Liza Soberano opened up about her traumatic childhood in her tell-all episode of the podcast documentary series, 'Can I Come In?'
The actress told her origin story, starting from when she was born.
Liza's parents
Liza was born to young parents, John (a Filipino) and Jacqueline (an American), who were 22 and 18 respectively when they had her.
'They grew up in two different countries. But the one thing that they had in common was they were so misguided,' Liza said.
'And so when I was born, these two kids, they were still children. And I feel like I'm giving them excuses right now, and that's what I always do, but they just they literally didn't know what to do,' Liza added.
Liza also opened up about her mother's addiction.
'They were working multiple jobs to make ends meet. My mom sadly had, like, a really bad addiction to crystal meth. And my dad, he was a chemist among many other things.'
Liza called her parents Bonnie and Clyde, who were 'not really thinking about the consequences for me.'
She added that her mother got pregnant with her younger brother, Justin, before she was even a year old.
Liza then shared that her father had another baby with his girlfriend before, and that she had filed a restraining order against him.
'My dad had visited them, and a big fight ensued, and eventually, my dad got arrested,' Liza said.
'And because he had so many different cases filed against him, one was for making drugs, two was for carrying illegal firearms, and three was trespassing and not following the restraining order, my dad eventually got deported," she said.
"And so my mom was left with just me and my brother, not really knowing what to do, not really having a plan.'
Liza said her mother's addiction got worse and she was still using while pregnant, 'and so my little brother was born addicted to crystal meth.'
Liza, a toddler at that time, said although she does not remember a lot of her memories, it comes to her in flashes during vulnerable moments and when she gets triggered.
'A sense will get triggered, and I can remember these moments, and these memories have been validated by the things that a lot of the grown-ups around me have told me.'
Michael
Liza shared that her earliest memory of the trauma was when her mom dated a man named Michael.
'This guy was really bad news,' Liza said. 'And I only know this because family told me, but I remember specific moments during that experience.'
Liza shared that Michael stole a minivan from off the street and took her, Jacqueline, and Justin with him. She recalled trying to escape from the van by getting out of her car seat.
'I was like a two-year-old, but obviously like, I didn't know how to get out of a car seat at that age. So I remember one morning I woke up and I just somehow knew how to unbuckle my car seat,' she said.
'And I remember I was making a run for it because at this point, we were missing for a few days. I don't know how long, but my mom's family had already filed for a missing persons report, and so we were actually on the news and everything for kidnapping.'
Liza ran out of the car but could only go so far as a toddler. Michael caught her, and brought her back to the van.
A fight then ensued when 'Michael was getting really mad because obviously, he was about to get caught.'
'My mom had made an excuse because he was just screaming at me and screaming at me, and so she was like, 'there's some things we need to buy.''
Liza said, 'And when she left me, the next thing I remember, he was screaming at me, telling me to hit my brother in the head with my car seat, to use it to bash his head, and he was telling me that over and over, and I was like, 'Why? No, no I'm not going to do that.''
'And he kept on telling me to do that over and over again. And I just remember being so confused 'cause I was like, 'Why do you want me to hit my brother's head?' Like, I'm a child, I can't even comprehend what's going on. And my brother's a baby. So I was just, I was so lost,' Liza said.
'I didn't even know what to do, like right now, I don't even know what a two-year-old would even think of when you're telling them this. And then the next thing I know, he hits me in the head with the bottom of a gun that he was holding.'
Liza's mother returns to the minivan and a few minutes later, the cops arrive after being called by her mother.
'So Michael had pushed my mom out of the car and I don't remember any of this, but apparently, like he had grabbed onto her hair from the window and my mom's like hair and scalp tore a bit because he started driving the car while holding onto her hair,' she said.
Michael and Jacqueline got arrested, 'and the next memory I have is just being in the back of a cop car with my little brother, and I just remember looking at him and thinking, like, 'what's going on?''
Liza said that to this day, she feels 'immense fear.'
'I just feel fear of bringing shame to my mom, even though I know she was the one that did me wrong.'
Foster care
Jacqueline was hospitalized and went to prison, which left Liza and Justin parentless. They stayed with their grandmothers for a while, but they were too old to care for them. They ended up in foster care and moved to several homes, but the longest one they stayed at was with a woman named Melissa and her family.
'She was supposed to be my mom's, like, high school friend, best friend. But, like, that was really far from the truth, apparently,' Liza said.
'So I ended up staying with her for, like eight months, and I remember in the beginning it was like, it was alright. I mean, I didn't feel super happy or excited about the situation, but it was okay,' she added.
Weeks went on and Liza said Melissa 'started treating me differently.'
During a birthday party of one of Melissa's sons, she and Justin were told to stay in their room. One of the other sons call them to come out, and then the kids start throwing cupcakes at them.
Another memory is having family movie nights, 'and I was the only one that wasn't allowed to participate in family movie nights because I was the family dog.'
'So they would literally call me the family dog and I would have to sit in like a big cardboard box behind the sofa. And I actually would just sit there like a dog.'
Liza said, 'And then after that, like, she started really abusing me, not just psychologically.'
One moment was when Liza was eating spaghetti, 'and this is why I have a phobia of meatballs now. She forced me to eat a meatball and I choked. She didn't do anything, she just watched me. And I think she did it on purpose to, like, make it look like it was an accident.'
Liza added, 'But for some reason, her husband would always step in when it got really bad, but he wouldn't do anything when it wasn't that bad. So he had saved me from choking.'
Liza was also told to clean the family dog's feces with her tongue. 'And I thought [Melissa] was kidding until she like, grabbed the back of my head and forced me on the carpet.'
Social workers would visit the family once a month.
'I noticed this pattern that, like, she would treat me really badly, but whenever it was about time that the social worker was gonna come by, she would all of a sudden treat me really nicely, like extra nicely,' Liza said. 'She would just tell me all the things that I wanted to hear.'
Liza said she would lie to the social worker.
'I'd say everything was fine, that I was happy, that Melissa was so good to me, that the kids were so good to me, that my conditions were fine. I would lie because I would actually believe that she loved me when she said she loved me, because when you're a kid, that's just what you do,' Liza said.
Things got worse from then on. Liza was told to sleep in the garage and was not given food.
'She would not feed me for days and then all of a sudden feed me a lot of food. And it came to a point where she didn't feed me for, like, three days, I think.'
When the social worker made a surprise visit, the signs of abuse started to manifest in Liza's body through bruises, a scratch on her face, and how she was skinny yet bloated.
'That's when I stopped lying to protect her.'
Moving to the Philippines
Eventually, Liza and her brother were adopted by her dad's parents.
'It was really good. My grandparents took very good care of us. We were living actually a very lavish lifestyle. My grandparents had pretty good jobs. It was the first time that me and my brother were experiencing something like this,' she said.
Liza added that despite the better circumstances, she longed to be with her mom.
'I was obsessed with my mom, like, my mom was my everything. And it's, like, it's funny because I was very aware of everything that had happened, but I had never built up this, like, hatred or resentment towards her. In fact, it was the opposite, like, I craved and longed to be with her,' she said,
Her grandparents would also allow her mother to spend time with them. With every visit, she had a new sibling. They would also live with their mom for two months during summer vacations, 'and I was always very happy. Those were like, my happiest childhood memories because I got to spend time with my siblings.'
Liza said, 'And during these times, my mom was actually doing well too, I believe, because I got to see her for myself, that she wasn't on drugs during those times. But who knows, like, I found out a lot of things later, but everything seemed fine.'
Eventually, Liza's grandfather got very sick with Type 2 diabetes that led to an open heart surgery. Her grandparents then suffered financially, and her grandmother had to quit her job to take care of her grandfather.
'And because of that, they made the decision to send me and my brother to the Philippines to meet her dad for the first time. And I strongly opposed to this. I didn't like my dad at all. I didn't grow up with him. I knew of him.'
Liza said she and her father would only occasionally talk on the phone.
'I couldn't ever imagine myself going to the Philippines and living with him full time, but that's what needed to happen. And so at the age of 10, my brother and I migrated to the Philippines to live with our estranged father.'
Liza said it was 'uncomfortable' and that it was a culture shock to be in the Philippines.
'He demanded so much from me as a daughter that I feel was, like unmerited, because he wasn't around.'
She said, 'And then out of nowhere, this guy comes up to me and kisses me on the cheek. And it's my father. And I'm just, I pushed him off of me, and I'm disgusted.'
She added, 'It's like he expected that we would act like we knew each other all this time when we've only had, like, conversations on the phone that would last, like, three minutes. So, yeah, he just, he didn't know how to take it step by step, and it just made me very uncomfortable.'
In the same interview, Liza officially announced her breakup with Enrique Gil.
Liza has been focusing on an international career.
She made her Hollywood debut on "Lisa Frankenstein," as Taffy. She was praised by American film critics for the role.
Liza starred in Thai singer and actor Bright's music video for 'Long Showers' and was also part of the Eric Nam's digital series, 'Stop 'N Snack.'
Liza has also appeared at the Gold House Gala, Coachella, and Elton John's Oscars afterparty. —KG, GMA Integrated News