Liza Soberano ‘vindicated’ over remarks on 'dangerous' love team culture in PH showbiz
Social media users are apologizing to Liza Soberano over her past remarks about "dangerous" love team culture in Philippine showbiz.
Soberano on Thursday expressed on X her confusion as to why she had been receiving apologetic messages online.
"Why are people saying sorry to me? I’m so confused," she wrote. Social media users explained in replies that her controversial remarks on love team culture were proven right.
"Well, thank you, I guess, hehe. I never really got to expound on why I personally think it’s ‘dangerous’ to be in a love team, so it makes sense people get offended. They didn’t fully understand where I was coming from," Soberano said.
The controversy emerged from discussions surrounding one of today’s well-known love teams, Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab alum and Love You So Bad stars Bianca de Vera and Will Ashley, or "WilCa," who work as on-screen partners but are rumored to be romantically involved with other people off-screen.
In 2023, Soberano’s remarks on Filipino love team culture sparked significant debate, made shortly after her rebranding as an artist. At the time, she opened up about how her opportunities were limited because she was confined to a love team, being one half of LizQuen with Enrique Gil. She recalled losing a project she truly wanted because another project had already been slated for their love team.
"It wasn't 'til later that I realized, oh my God, ang dami kong hindi nagawa sa career ko. And that's why everybody, I think, takes for granted my talent or acting capabilities because they've only seen me in a love team," Soberano said in her guest appearance on Bea Alonzo's vlog.
She also shared how she backed out of Darna multiple times just to save LizQuen.
In her Get Real podcast interview with Ashley Choi and Peniel, she revealed that local management often requires local love teams to hide their real dating status to “keep fans kind of hungry” about their relationship.
"Some love teams don't actually date in real life, but you're not allowed to say that. The thing is, in the beginning of the love team, too, you're not allowed to say you are dating because you want to keep the fans kind of hungry for you guys to be actually dating," she explained at the time.
"And it helps with the projects because whenever we do interviews, going into the projects, they were always asking if we are already dating—officially dating—or not," she continued. "So it becomes this whole thing where your career and your personal life, the lines between the two, get blurred and people just don't know what reality is."
After leaving her career in the Philippines, Soberano has starred in her first Hollywood film, Lisa Frankenstein. She is now a member of the American labor union, the Screen Actors Guild.
She is now set to star in DreamWorks Animation's Forgotten Island alongside actors Lea Salonga, Manny Jacinto, and singer-actress H.E.R.