Diana Zubiri with her son King. Image: Instagram/@dianazubirismith

Diana Zubiri opened up about her struggles as a single mom raising her son King, including the time he was bullied in school because of his appearance.

In an interview with Boy Abunda recently, Zubiri spoke about the hardships she and her late first husband Alex Lopez went through in order to support their eldest son, who had a cleft lip and palate, a condition where there is an opening or split in the roof of the mouth which occurs when a baby’s mouth tissue did not fully develop or close while in the womb.

“Siyempre, we are all shocked kasi hindi namin ine-expect na gan’un. Pero bilang nanay, tatanggapin mo. Hindi niya po masyadong natanggap agad. Naging mabigat ang pagtanggap, pero naging okay after a while,” she said.

(Of course, we are all shocked because we didn’t expect things to turn out this way. But as a mom, you have to accept it. I didn’t accept it right away. It was just heavy, but it became okay after a while.)

The actress shared that Lopez struggled to accept their son’s condition as well, citing it as the reason why she didn’t publicize her pregnancy at the time. “Parang naiintindihan ko ang gan’ung pakiramdam kasi nararamdaman ko rin.”

“Pero siyempre kailangan kaming dalawa. We support each other. Pero una po siyang bumitaw,” she continued. “Kaya noong time na ‘yun, tinatanong kung bakit hindi nilabas ang first pregnancy ko. ‘Yun ang dahilan kasi kailangan kong protektahan ang anak ko… ‘yun din ang naging reason bakit din kami naghiwalay.”

(I understand why he felt that way because I felt it too. But of course, we had to raise him together. We support each other. But he was the first one to let go. This is why I was asked why I didn’t publicize my first pregnancy. That was the reason why. I need to protect my child. It was the reason why we broke up.)

Zubiri, however, clarified that she and Lopez patched things up, and were eventually on good terms before his death in 2010. However, she had to prepare herself to explain King’s condition to himself in the right way, especially when they moved to Australia.

“Tinanong ko bakit niya ako tinatanong ngayon lang. Tapos sabi niya kasi may isa daw siyang classmate na parang binu-bully siya, ganyan. Siyempre, parang ako, paano ko ie-explain,” she said.

“Ni-ready ko na ang sarili ko paano ko ie-explain pero matalino kasi ang anak ko. Sabi na lang niya, you don’t need to explain kasi tapos naman na raw. Nag-sorry na ako sa kanya kasi kailangan niyang pagdaanan kung anong napagdaanan,” continued the actress.

(I asked him why he just asked about it now. He said he had a classmate who bullied him for his condition. Of course, how would I explain it to him? I prepared myself how would I explain it, but my son is smart. He said I didn’t have to explain anything because it’s already done. I said sorry to him because he had to go through this experience.)

Citing King’s condition as one of the reasons behind her family’s move, Zubiri said she’s happy that her son is receiving the proper treatment in Australia.

“Three months pa lang siya, operation. Six months old, operation. Hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin tapos. Kaya happy ako na nasa Australia kasi sa Australia, ‘yun talaga ang pinaka-main na lugar para sa operation niya,” she said.

(He already received an operation at three months old. He was operated when he was six months old. Until now, he’s not yet done. This is why I was happy when we moved to Australia. It is the main place for his operation.)

Zubiri, who tied the knot with Filipino-Australian businessman Andy Smith in 2015, bore two more children, Alijah and Amira Rose.