Liza Soberano Shares Her Experiences Growing Up
Childhood scars lingers.
Our childhood life is the time where we laugh, that it echoes in the halls of our memory, and those simple experiences became a lifelong treasures. But not for the young Liza, Liza's childhood was not the same as the other childrens since it is completely the opposite. Her mother, Jacqulyn (American from San Jose), and her father, John Castillo (Filipino from Pangasinan) separated shortly after her birth.
Her mother struggled with crystal meth addiction while her father was involved in criminal issues and was deported to the Philippines. Shortly after her parents separated, her mother started seeing this guy named Michael. The 2-year-old Liza recalled how Michael kidnapped them using the stolen van where they lived for a couple of days. Liza remembered trying to escape but unluckily being caught by Michael. She also encountered physical violence from him while her mother was away. In due course, her mother called the police causing Michael to get arrested while her mother go through the custody.
Apparently, after the incident, Liza stayed with Melissa, her mother's high school friend. “I ended up staying with her for 8 months. In the beginning, it was alright, and then eventually, she started treating me differently” she claimed. Liza alleged that Melissa was cruel towards her, that she even labeled Liza as a “family dog”. She would lock her overnight in their garage, would force Liza to clean the dog fences with her tongue. And they also left her unfed for days, and did other forms of neglect and cruelty. Luckily, the social worker surprisingly visited and saw some signs of abuse, bruises, and malnourishment that finally led to her being removed in that abusive environment. It led them to move with their grandparents who really cared for them truly, but because of her grandfather's health issues and the financial strain it caused her to live in the Philippines with her father. Meeting her father was disconcerting for Liza where she even pushed him when he kissed her on the cheeks at the airport. She also admitted that living in the Philippines is foreign feeling that she experienced causing her to have a culture shock.
Liza’s childhood was not pleasing or perhaps not worth remembering. It’s mix of pure longing — for connection, love and safety. Yet from this traumatic events she's able to create an inspiring story of both survival and bravery.
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