Actress Liza Soberano has opened up about her mental health struggles during an interview with American Actress and Podcast Host Rachel Bilson.
In her podcast, ‘Broad Ideas,’ Rachel asked the upcoming Hollywood actress about her experiences in having her very own podcast.
Liza recounted that her podcast, ‘An Open Mind with Liza Soberano,’ first began at the onset of her mental health struggles prior to the pandemic.
“That was coming from like, just years of focusing on work and not really getting to, I guess, be fully present in my childhood,” Liza admitted.
Liza further explained that she came across a company called, ‘Mind You,’ which she referred to as the first mental health service company in the country. She noted that the Philippines wasn’t as open to understanding topics such as mental health and mental health issues, pointing out the difficulty of finding places to go when one is struggling to cope with their problems.
“I partnered with that company and then I came out with a podcast in hopes of making it just more mainstream for people [because] in the Philippines, yeah, we don’t really like to talk about mental health that much,” Liza said.
The actress believed that mental health being a taboo topic came from the Philippines’ long history of colonization, which had led to the practice of utang na loob.
“You’re forever in debt to just be grateful for whatever it is you have and Filipinos always like to say we’re so resilient when it comes to facing challenges and whatever but it’s actually like we’re just people pleasers,” Liza noted.
She further talked about her current struggles such as regaining her own confidence when answering questions in interviews as she said her words get easily picked apart by the public.
Notably, Liza had previously received criticisms all over social media following her appearance in previous interviews as she spoke about her thoughts about the culture of love teams in the local entertainment industry.
“I get very self-conscious and so when I started becoming more vocal about mental health, my goal or my promise to myself was just to always be authentic and honest,” said Liza.
Liza currently stars alongside Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse in her Hollywood debut, ‘Lisa Frankenstein,’ which is now available to watch in theaters nationwide.