"Marry someone who loves you more."
That was the marriage advice of the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago to Heart Evangelista.
Heart continued, "She always told me that I needed to marry someone who loved me more because eventually daw, as a woman, when you have children, it will reach and you guys will meet at the middle with your maturity.
"'You need to marry somebody who adores you,' that's what she would always tell me.
"And I feel like I did."
Heart, who is now married to Senator Chiz Escudero, will always thank Miriam for introducing her to the politician back in 2012.
The GMA-7 actress continued, "That was something she gave me as a gift before she left all of us."
HONORING TWO MOMS
Heart referred to the late Senator Miriam as her "mom."
At her contract-signing with a beauty brand, she told the press, "I'm very, very, very blessed that I met such a queen like her.
"Every time I'd go through a breakup, it's so funny because she would pick me up.
"She was really like a queen. She would have all of these, like, bodyguards, which I never saw anyone else but her.
"She would pick me up in the middle of the night, and I would sleep in her house.
"We would talk about our relationship gone wrong and who I should be with, this is how I should be, that I should really love myself, treasure myself.
"'My god!' gaganyan, 'You're so beautiful!' gaganyan. And I remember that."
Together with the life lessons that Heart picked up from her own mom, Cecilia Ongpauco, the Kapuso star sees herself as a stronger woman.
Heart remarked, "I think growing up being surrounded by all these, like, really strong women, eventually that's what I feel I became...
"I'm really lucky that my mom and I, we had a lot of great memories and stories that we went through in the past.
"I grew up with her telling me to have self-worth and to love myself.
"You really have to love yourself, really treasure yourself as a woman because whatever you face in life, ups and downs, at the end of the day, you have to know who you are and your worth."