Liza Soberano

PHOTO: YOUTUBE/BROAD IDEAS WITH RACHEL BILSON & OLIVIA ALLEN, KIM WEE EBOL

Liza Soberano is speaking hard truths about the Filipino concept of “utang na loob.” In a YouTube interview with Rachel Bilson and Olivia Allen, the newly minted Hollywood actress opened up about a lot of things including mental health and her thriving acting career at the moment.

When asked about her other activities aside from being the promising actress that she is right now, Liza talked about studying psychology in college during the pandemic. Liza’s main reason for choosing her course is because she wants to join the conversations about mental health in the Philippines.

As she packaged it, “In the Philippines, we don’t really like to talk about mental health that much.” Her statement received curious and shocked reactions from the two hosts she was with.

Liza dared to explain how Filipinos’ perception of mental health dates back to the nation’s colonized years. “We have this Filipino saying called, “utang na loob,” which means like you’re forever in debt to just be grateful for whatever it is that you have,” she explained.

The 26-year-old actress further explained Filipino culture against adveristies. “We Filipinos like to say “we’re so resilient when it comes to facing challenges,” she began.

Liza Soberano
INSTAGRAM/LIZASOBERANO

“But it’s actually like we’re just people-pleasers. We don’t like complaining. We don’t like talking about our hardships. Everything has to be happy and pleasant all the time,” she said.

The thing is, Liza firmly believes that “utang na loob” should be changed. “That’s just not the way the world works,” Liza asserted.

Liza openly recognizes the lack of genuine conversations about mental health in the country. Although it stems deeply from Filipino culture, the actress makes it to a point to envision a more accessible and available to a lot of people in the Philippines.

“My ultimate goal really is to make mental health services more accessible in the Philippines and be able to provide to people that are less fortunate, to be able to pay for these types of services,” she proclaimed. In 2022, Liza even launched a mental health podcast called, “An Open Mind With Liza Soberano.”

Liza Soberano on wanting to be her true self

A lot has changed in Liza’s life. And one thing that she learned from her event-filled life and career, that’s confidently becoming her true self, which she is still getting used to. She calls it a ~constant battle~ between wanting to please everyone and prioritizing herself as well.

Liza noted how intense the process was for her and that up until now, she would still get *really* conscious about herself whenever she was in public. “Just being in public feels like every little thing I say gets torn apart. It gets interpreted in different ways so I get very conscious.

The Lisa Frankenstein star looked back on some of her past experiences which made her realize how speaking her truth was something she should not feel bad about.

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“I got a lot of backlash for probably speaking my truth about certain things, the way the industry is in the Philippines and wanting more for myself, not feeling contented and all that, and also struggling with societal pressures,” she bravely mentioned.

Elaborating on her experience, Liza opened up about her efforts to be perfect and fitting—not just for herself—but for everyone’s approval and preference. She stated, “The reason why I got so much backlash is before I would try to be as perfect as possible… I was actually told not to talk about anything too negative.”

With that, she recalls being called “ungrateful” for speaking her truth. “People kind of think that the moment that you start speaking up with anything negative it’s almost like you’re being ungrateful, that you don’t even realize what privilege you have,” Liza declared.