“What I am now is because of who I was before,” said Julia Montes recently, when asked why she accepted her biological father.

As reported on ABS-CBN News, the actress, who was recently reunited with her German-born father Martin Schnittka, stated that she has no ill-feelings towards him since she became a better person because of what she had to go through.

Montes, born Mara Schnittka, was abandoned at an early age by Schnittka in the past, to live a poor life with her deaf mother. They were reunited last year through the help of her and Coco Martin’s fans.

“I might have been poor, but it happened and I am here now. I am thankful of what I have become because of everything,” she said.

The father and daughter duo previously spent time together in the Philippines.

Montes stated that she has also planned to visit him in Germany soon, while Schnittka will be visiting her in the Philippines in March for her birthday.

Julia Montes is not one who harbors ill feelings towards her biological father even if he left her with her mother at an early age.

Montes, born Mara Schnittka, shared that her German father Martin Schnittka kept on apologizing to her when they finally met last December.

“Nag-sorry siya. Nagkuwentuhan kami kung ano ‘yung nangyari before, kung bakit hindi siya nakabalik. Nalaman niya kung paano ‘yung naging buhay ko from bata ako hanggang sa paglaki. Nag-sorry lang siya ng nag-sorry habang umiiyak siya. Hindi na ako nakapagsalita,” she said.

Montes believes she wouldn’t be who she is today if things did not happen the way it did.