BUZZ BEAT MEDIA

Liza Soberano finally reveals via a Youtube vlog titled ‘This is Me’ why she cut ties with ABS-CBN and what her new career path will take. The video, which has a theme that revolves around being free, was uploaded last February 25. As of writing, it has over 300k views.

After the pandemic, she described herself as being “lost and instrospective”, since she also finished her contract with Ogie Diaz and Star Magic. She emphasized that, despite dozens of photos of her enjoying vacations on her Instagram stories, she had no time to rest since she started working in show business when she was just 12 years old. 

The gentle voice narrating the video cound not hide the negative emotions behind the words uttered, with some people interpreting it as spiteful and a sign of being ungrateful to the people who helped her build her career throughout the years. “I didn’t have a childhood nor did I have a chance to grow and become an adult on my own terms. I had always been told what to do, what to wear, what to say, and what not to say,” said the former Kapamilya leading lady in her video. 

She continued by saying the career she had was not hers anyway, and she did not even choose the name Liza. “It was chosen for me,” she recalled.

A Facebook page called Kapamilya Circle actually made a post titled “Liza vs. Liza”, comparing Liza’s recent revelations about how she was managed as a talent, to what she said years ago which was quite different. The page quoted what she said in the vlog: “I’ve been in six feature films, over 500 episodes of teleseryes and have only dabbled into three main genres — romance, comedy and drama. Since I was 16, I had only really worked side by side with one main co-star. with the same production company, rotating around the same three directors.

However, research shows that aside only Cathy Garcia-Molina is her consistent collaborator. Bagani actually had three directors, namely: Richard Arellano, Lester Pimentel, and Raz de la Torre. The same could be said for her 2016 TV series, Dolce Amore, which was directed by Mae Cruz-Alviar, Richard Arellano, and Cathy Garcia-Molina. ‘Just the Way You Are’ (2015) was directed by Theodore Boborol while ‘Must Be…Love’ starring Kathniel, where Soberano plays a supporting role, is directed by Dado Lumibao.

The page also posted her quote about being supposedly suppressed: “During all those years, I was never really asked for my input, my thoughts, my ideas. I felt like I was being told to be just a flower for so long and I finally started to explore a world of being able to create and tell my story and hopefully others.”

This totally contradicted what the page revealed to be her statement in 2019, which this news outlet was able to confirm as true: “They were, like, asking us, sina Inang [Olivia Lamasan], ‘Are you guys open to working with other actors and actresses in the future?’ 

Soberano replied with: “Parang I don’t think it’s really time for us yet to separate; but it’s really inevitable because we really need it for our growth and also for the company’s growth as well. So it’s not like when they partner certain individuals from a love team, they’re separating the love team. It’s not really like that. They can always do another project, so the love team is always there. They’re just expanding their craft and their talents.”

Soberano made headlines recently not because she bagged a supporting role in the upcoming American horror comedy film ‘Lisa Frankenstein’, but because majority of her Filipino fans thought her Instagram with 17.6 million followers was hacked. All her content disappeared and when new photos were uploaded, it became clear that this was some sort of prelude to her rebranding. She revealed that she totally enjoyed doing those 8 layouts with celebrity photographer Shaira Luna, and the inspiration was the Palestinian-Jordanian artist Sarah Bahbah’s art series which involved longing and flowers. “We just played around with the concept of being jealous of flowers,” Soberano explained.

The 25-year-old actress who’s now being managed by James Reid ended the vlog, which she stressed was really about “growth and gratitude”, by just looking straight to the camera and narrating the fruit of her explorations, like dabbling in writing and directing. “It has been the most exhilarating feeling so far,” she confessed. Soberano also cut down her brand endorsements and wants to be more “intentional about the brands she associates with”. She dropped hints about her new commercial that was launched last Feburary 27 and how she was even part of the storyboarding process. 

She even acknowledged the backlash she has been getting. “I obviously know that it will be much easier to just stick to what has been working for me, to stay forever the same, and, I know and understand that it’s unfair to all the Liza Soberano fans, all the Lizquen fans, but I hope you understand that by doing so, by giving in to the pressure of doing what everybody else wants for me, I’m being unfair to myself, Hope Soberano,” she said.

*Cover Photo/Thumbnail Photo from Liza Soberano Youtube