Daily Tribune
Beautederm CEO Rei Tan and Maja Salvador
For most of her life, Maja Salvador has performed on center stage — a force of nature in every teleserye, dance concert, and red carpet. But nothing prepared her for the life-altering role she stepped into last year: becoming a mother. When baby Maria arrived after a harrowing 30-hour labor and an almost tragic childbirth complication, the curtain rose on an entirely new act in Maja’s life.
Maja speaks candidly about her postpartum experience, describing it not just as physical recovery, but as an emotional reckoning. She recalls how her once-steady patience was replaced by sudden bursts of irritability.
“Parang pumipitik ka, and you ask yourself, ‘Sino ’yon?’ Because I knew it wasn’t me,” she shared. “Buti na lang I had my husband, my family — my support system — who just reminded me to breathe.”
She quietly experienced postpartum depression at first, unsure of how to label what she was feeling. When her breastmilk supply dropped eight months in — after she began working out and dieting again—the emotional weight intensified.
“Na-depress din ako na hindi ko na siya ma-breastfeed,” she confessed, eyes welling up as she described the pain of that disconnection.
Her empathy for fellow mothers deepened, especially after hearing of a tragic incident in Bulacan involving a mother and her children. “Hindi ko kaya. Just reading it broke my heart,” she said, visibly shaken. “I thought of Maria. I hugged her tighter. I prayed even harder.”
Maja also revealed that her childbirth was nearly fatal. After giving birth, she suffered a rare condition — uterine inversion — which caused her uterus to turn inside out. Three OB-GYNs attempted manual repositioning as she bled profusely and her blood pressure dropped. Surgery seemed inevitable.
“I couldn’t do anything anymore. I had no strength left,” Maja recalled. “So I just prayed. Hail Mary, over and over. And then, miraculously, one OB was able to fix it. I owe that moment to prayer and grace.”
Out of that darkness came something luminous — not just the joy of motherhood, but the rediscovery of herself. Together with her longtime mentor Rhea Anicoche-Tan, CEO of Beautéderm, Maja launched her self-care brand: Majeskin.
Born from her postpartum journey, Majeskin is more than a body lotion or calming scrub. “It’s healing in a bottle,” she said. “At a time when I felt like I was losing control, this gave me a purpose again.”
The idea had been there long before motherhood, but fear kept her from pursuing it. “Ang dami kong idea, but I never did it. I was scared. But with Rambo, my friends, my Manang Rei… ‘eto na siya. We made it happen.”
Just three months after giving birth, Maja was back at the gym — not out of vanity, but self-love. With her sister-in-law Yanee Alvarez (a mom of four), Maja found a workout partner and emotional lifeline.
“I cheer for myself now,” she said. “Because every mom who gets up, keeps going, and still finds joy in little things — she’s already winning.”
Her voice cracks again as she talks about Maria, who’s about to turn one.
“All I ask God is for more time. A hundred years if He’ll allow it,” she whispers. “Because now, everything I do — including Majeskin — is for her.”
From the near loss of her own life to the creation of a new one, Maja Salvador’s story is no longer just about stardom. It’s about survival, sisterhood, and self-empowerment. And like the queen she is, she’s rising — scarred, strengthened, and shining.
