Liza Soberano Tells Her Story of Strength and Survival in an Unscripted Web Series

The actress gets candid about childhood trauma, love team culture, and more.

Published on Aug 15, 2025

Trigger Warning: This article discusses themes of domestic abuse, trauma, and mental health. Reader discretion is advised.

“Where in the world is Liza Soberano?” is a question we’ve all asked before. And while this can be answered in a multitude of ways, one rises above all. Liza is here, letting go of the chains of the past, and completely living in the present moment.

She recently starred in an episode of Can I Come In? by Sarah Bahbah, made in partnership with WePresent by WeTransfer. The immersive art series identifies as a hybrid of podcast, cinema, and documentary, serving as a platform for art and vulnerability to meet. It features six female artists, including Cindy Kimberly and Mia Khalifa, among others. Each episode is unscripted, and the respective guests are filmed in a deeply personalized set that envelops them with safety, as Sarah invites them to bare their souls, tell their story, and let people in.

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Liza Soberano on "Can I Come In?"

The episode was released on YouTube on August 14, 2025. Its bold title, Mind Your F**cking Business!, encapsulates what Liza wants the public to know. Through the artistic project, she opened up about the traumatic experiences she and her brother endured as children—from being born to young parents struggling with drug addiction and going missing because of a kidnapping attempt, to experiencing psychological and physical abuse from people who claimed to care for them.

“You believe anything that an adult says because you think that they have their best interest for you,” Liza said. She recounted these experiences—all of which occurred before she was 10 years old—with candor, describing each in detail as part of her personal history.

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PHOTO: Instagram/sarahbahbah.

When asked about the specific period she felt “truly worthy of love,” the 27-year-old shared it was when she started gaining fans upon pursuing acting in the Philippines. Albeit difficult and unimaginable, he was still able to open herself to new connections after everything she had been through. Liza was paired with actor Enrique Gil for most of her career, and the relationship between them developed before they were cast as a love team.

She shared, “When I started working with my love team, it was the first time that I truly felt like I wasn’t alone.” However, with her first relationship unfolding so publicly—alongside her personal rise to stardom and the growing dominance of social media in the Philippines—things weren’t necessarily easy. “I didn’t know how to properly set up boundaries between what I was okay sharing with the world and the public, and what I wanted to keep for ourselves.”

Still, their relationship endured for almost eight years, and for the first time, Liza confirmed through the series that they had broken up around three years ago. The break-up was full of love, she said, and she continues to see Enrique as a “childhood best friend” and her "first love" who she checks up on from time to time.

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PHOTO: Instagram/sarahbahbah.

Liza didn’t conceal how her experiences growing up have molded her into a “people-pleaser,” stating that she often finds herself “putting the things that I need to do for myself off to make other people happy and to make them feel safe.” She also admitted that she is not yet in a place where she feels no guilt for putting herself first.

Acknowledging this, she said, “I need to let go of caring about what other people think about me before caring about what I think of myself.” In an early part of the episode, caught in a candid moment, Liza told Sarah, “I don’t want to cry. I want to be so much stronger.” By telling her story, sharing her perspective, and reclaiming her narrative, she demonstrated the resolve she said she wanted to build.

Help is available. You can reach the 24/7 crisis hotline of the Philippines’ National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) through 1553, 1800-1888-1553, 0919-057-1553, and 0917-899-8727.

Kyla Villena loves a good lip gloss and a trip to the art gallery. She is Preview's beauty girl, who doubles as a self-proclaimed motivational speaker.