(From left) Liza Soberano and Ogie Diaz. Images: Screengrabs from YouTube/Can I Come In?, Ogie Diaz Showbiz Update

Days after Liza Soberano bared the trauma and abuse she suffered as a a child, her former manager Ogie Diaz stood up for the actress, revealing she used to seek help from a psychiatrist to deal with her childhood trauma.

Soberano earlier revealed her biological mother Jacqulyn Elizabeth Hanley’s meth addiction, and the latter’s boyfriend’s kidnapping of her and her younger brother when they were just under three years old. Following the arrest of her mother, they were then given to the care of their foster parents who treated her as no more than a family pet, making her eat dog feces, and made to crouch inside a cardboard box like an animal.

She said this in a tell-all episode of the “Can I Come In?” podcast of storyteller Sarah Bahbah earlier this month.

Reacting to this revelation, Diaz was asked in his own showbiz vlog on Sunday, August 17, Diaz his thoughts about his former ward’s experience.

“I feel sorry for her. At the same time, it was brave of her to have overcome that. Liza Soberano is very brave,” Diaz said in Filipino. He was then asked if the actress opened up about her childhood struggles to him at one point, which she did.

“She shared it with me. Of course, when you’re eyeing to accept a talent, you have to get to know them and the story of their lives to know where they’re coming from. The story of the struggles that Liza went through when she was young was real,” he continued.

 

Diaz also recalled that Soberano didn’t like receiving dolls as gifts since it reminded her of a traumatic experience when she was young.

“She didn’t like receiving dolls as a gift, as this reminded her of the time when she was being locked up inside a room full of dolls. She would also find egg trays weird. She had those moments. Of course, as her manager, I had to understand where the child was coming from,” he said.

The entertainment insider added that he and Soberano’s aunt Joni did their best to take care of her, noting that the actress even sought professional help.

“She went through so much when she was young. But for Tita Joni and me as her guardians, we’re not doctors. I knew that she would meet a psychiatrist. But of course, things are different now. I have to accept that people change and her points of view might have changed as well,” he said.

Liza Soberano and Ogie Diaz. Image: Facebook/Ogie Diaz

Despite this, Diaz said Soberano’s acting prowess might have something to do with her childhood trauma.

“I want to attribute this to why she is great at acting and great at crying. I don’t want to invalidate her feelings and recollections. It’s her. It’s her story. It is only we who know the story of our lives. Except if others choose to exaggerate their sides of the story,” he said.

Aside from her childhood traumas, Soberano also revealed in the same podcast that she and Enrique Gil have been broken up for “almost three years” now.

The actress nonetheless described Gil as her “first love,” saying their onscreen partnership was also a “safety net” for her back then. However, it came to a point where she realized that they weren’t a match anymore.

Soberano was one of Diaz’s showbiz talents until she decided to move to the United States to pursue a career in Hollywood. They previously had a falling out when she said in her vlog that she felt boxed in by her then home network, ABS-CBN, into a love team in order to boost her career in show business.

She eventually signed with Careless, the talent management company owned by fellow actor James Reid and ex- business partner Jeffrey Oh, who was rumored to be the actress’ boyfriend after Gil.