As the eldest daughter of Sunshine Cruz, Angelina Cruz said that she grew up with the best kind of role model and parent. “I’d always look up to my mom every time. I’ll never stop looking up to her. And I’m proud of her naman, how far she’s gone despite the challenges she’s faced and I know she’s faced as a single mother and I’ve seen how strong of a woman she is and alam ko na, she will always want the best for me. The world may turn its back on me but I’ll always have her by my side. She’s like my best friend,” she shared during their launch as Silka’s newest celebrity ambassador last February 4.

READ: Sunshine Cruz proud of daughter Angelina’s admission to dream university

Given their close bond, Angelina said she always takes her mom’s advice on love to heart. “She’d always tell me that you can’t love someone else truly if you don’t love yourself first. And to always take care of myself. That’s what she tells me. She also says always know the person before you fully commit yourself to that person. Just to know their true self first and true personality before you fully commit yourself and of course to love yourself na rin. So to always love myself and to always know my worth as a person and as a woman. Babae may halaga and we should always know ourself and our value,” she shared.

READ: Sunshine Cruz’s daughter Angelina turns 19: ‘She will always be my baby girl’

Although she is only 19 years old, the new Silka endorser said she also teaches her mom some things especially when it comes to fashion. “The things that I teach her would be she’d always ask me what’s in right now with the Gen Z. Yung mga trends, yung how you accessorize, how you dress, she’d always ask me that. And then I introduced her to necklace layering and she likes it. She’s really into that. It’s usually yung mga trends now for people around my age. She’d also ask for help with the dance and everything. Usually the dance that she wants to learn, I don’t really know them so she’d ask me but I don’t know it so she’d sometimes teach herself (laughs) when she does TikTok with tito Macky (Mathay),” she added.

Even before the pandemic, Angelina said she and her family have always been close. “We’re super open with each other. We’d openly share mga kuwentos. We’d always give time for family bonding, watching movies and having dinner together. And then after dinner we’d always bond sa living room, mag-kuwentuhan. And I guess what makes us close is that we’re very open to each other and we like to goof around together. I splurge usually sa mga clothes. I splurge a lot on food. I’m very impulsive so whenever I’m craving for something, I like to order it on the day itself (laughs),” she said.

Angelina is the eldest daughter of Sunshine Cruz with ex-husband Cesar Montano. She has two sisters named Samantha and Francheska.