Cristine Reyes just revealed a very sensitive and painful time in her life.
While guesting on the Eight Billion Podcast hosted by real estate professional, entrepreneur, and investor Liza Florida, Cristine talked about how her childhood scarred her for life, something which she says she has never told anyone.
"I'm grateful that I stayed quiet," she said.
"I never shared or talked to anybody in my life, ever, about my story. Even to my sisters and brothers."
Cristine shared her earliest childhood memories growing up with a loving family and a father figure she calls "Daddy Metring." Although her family at the time didn't have much, she remembers being very happy.
"Every time I think about him, I get emotional because I remember how he took care of me. He is the best father in the world for me. Even though we didn't have all the good things in life like cars, a mansion, nothing like that."
Her life changed when she was told at age six that she was actually adopted and her biological mom took her back to live with her five other siblings.
Cristine recalls moving to a huge house with five rooms and a garage that could fit "10 to 12 cars." She even remembers hearing a gunshot inside the house at one time.
"I felt the sadness in that house."
"Everything is so quiet here."
"It wasn't very warm, [welcoming] for me. I felt like, 'I don't belong here.'"
"I felt like I didn’t have a voice, so my voice didn't matter. As much as possible, I [didn’t] really talk and I just [kept] everything inside."
The most painful part of growing up with her biological family was when her mom would frequently tell her, "You know, you should have died. You never should have been born."
Cristine's mother even told her about how after her multiple failed attempts at abortion, she tried to give her away in the US.
"'I tried so many times to abort you. You're just something else. Your grip was there. You should have died.'"
Cristine says that's when she started to feel safer when she's alone.
"My instinct was to survive in this house—which I called, before, the 'hell house'—is to lock myself in a room so nobody can touch me, nobody can scare me, nobody can do something to me. "
"It stuck in my head up until now that I'm an adult. It hurts a lot growing up."
"Nobody [was] really looking out for me, so I had to look out for myself."
It was only when Cristine entered show business and bought her own house at age 21 that she felt she finally had the courage to move out.
To this day, Cristine says she still has a "distance" and a "wall" around people, but she is trying to come to terms with her traumatic childhood. As a mom to six-year-old Amarah, Cristine also knows all too well the power of a parent's words.
"That's why I'm starting to learn, study, and I think most importantly, [to surround] myself with people who have the sense of real love and support with not just their own family, but with other people as well. That's why I would always, always go back to the people who truly cared and the people who touched my life so much."
"Now, I've learned I have to take full responsibility for everything that happened in my life and don't blame other people."
"It's a process that I'm working on. It's a goal. That's the goal. To see and feel that Cristine back when she was happy and content without having all the worldly possessions and fame, money, whatever."