Liza Soberano finds her own identity beyond LizQuen

Liza Soberano is looking back on one of the most defining chapters of her career with a mix of gratitude and perspective as she continues to establish a life and career separate from her former love team with Enrique Gil.

In a conversation with broadcaster Karen Davila, Soberano opened up about where she and Gil stand today, years after LizQuen became one of Philippine entertainment’s most recognizable screen partnerships and following the end of their real-life relationship.

According to Soberano, there is no bad blood between them, although communication has naturally become less frequent as both move forward independently.

“We’re okay. Our relationship ended on good terms, and even after that, we were still maintaining open communication. But, I would say over the past year, we haven’t really been talking as much. I think ever since I made that final official announcement, with the breakup and everything,” she shared.

For Soberano, that distance has also become an important part of rediscovering who they are outside the partnership that followed them for much of their young adult lives.

“We also wanted to give each other the space to kind of move on and find ourselves. And so, I think we’re only able to really do that once there’s an actual separation of the identities, because for so long we’re LizQuen, you know. But now it’s Liza and Quen, and I think it takes some time getting people used to that,” she explained.

Soberano also looked beyond the romance associated with love teams and reflected on what the experience taught her professionally.

For years, she had someone beside her who understood the demands that came with their enormous popularity. That partnership, she said, made some of the pressures of show business easier to carry.

“The best thing about being in a love team is that you have someone to share the pressure with. Looking back at it now, I was never really nervous, or I never felt pressured when going into projects, because mayroon kang person to kind of lean on. May kasama ka going through it. So that was very nice to have. I think it was nice to just have someone to kind of lean on and share that pressure with and the experiences with.”

But working as one half of a highly successful tandem also came with limitations.

“The hard thing about being in a love team, I think, is also that very same thing. Like, because you are a team, every decision has to be vetted by the both of you. Kailangan agree kayong pareho. And sometimes there are things that you don’t personally feel like is beneficial to your own individual career, and the other person will think it’s beneficial to them. Pero you both have to do it anyway, because you’re in a love team. And so I think, in that sense, nagiging limiting siya.”

Being part of a famous pairing also meant living with extraordinary public interest, particularly as she and Gil were growing up before millions of fans.

“But, like I said again, there’s also, when it’s too much, it can be an invasion of privacy as well. And so finding that right balance, while being in a love team, is always difficult, especially when you’re growing up in front of the whole country, but it was a fun time.”

Despite those challenges, Soberano said her years in LizQuen gave her an appreciation for something she finds distinctly touching about Filipino audiences—their enthusiasm for love stories.

“There’s definitely things about it that are very beautiful. I think one thing that I realized about the Filipino people through being in a love team is how much Filipinos love love, which is actually so nice. It’s so interesting. Like, Filipinos always get kilig over seeing people just being so in love. And I think being able to appreciate love in its rawest form is such a beautiful thing too.”

Soberano was already among the country’s biggest young stars when she eventually chose a different direction. In 2022, she moved to the United States as part of her pursuit of opportunities beyond the Philippine entertainment industry.

Her career has since entered an international chapter, with projects allowing audiences to see her outside the image and partnership that helped make her a household name.

Now, as Soberano continues moving forward on her own terms, her reflections on LizQuen suggest she does not view that chapter as something to erase. Instead, it remains an important part of her story—one that brought companionship, pressure, enormous public attention and lessons she carries with her as she builds an identity simply as Liza.