Actress and yoga instructor Maxene Magalona has shared her thoughts on toxic marriages and their impact on mental health via social media.
In an Instagram post, Magalona emphasized the serious nature of marriage within the Catholic faith, describing it as a sacrament. “Marriage IS supposed to be a sacred union between two people,” she noted.
However, Magalona highlighted that some marriages become “toxic and traumatic” due to unresolved personal issues. “Most humans have not done their individual work of healing their pain,” she explained, which transforms a sacred union into a harmful bond.
Magalona criticized the misconception that having children can fix marital issues, stating that unresolved problems only perpetuate a “vicious cycle [that] never ends.” She advocated for the importance of “letting go” as a form of healing.
Sharing her views during Mental Health Awareness Month, Magalona aimed to support and empathize with Filipinos stuck in toxic marriages. “Being forced to stay in a relationship that diminishes your self-worth will make you think less and less of yourself until you don’t know yourself anymore,” she expressed.
Magalona also lamented that the Philippines is one of only two countries globally that still prohibits divorce. “In my humble opinion, divorce helps protect the sanctity of marriage by allowing the toxic marriages to dissolve and keeping the sacred ones intact,” she argued. She concluded with a prayer for peace and progress in the nation, asserting, “We deserve divorce.”
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives approved the proposed measure on absolute divorce.
Magalona married musician and yoga instructor Rob Mananquil in 2018. In 2022, netizens noticed she no longer followed Mananquil on Instagram and had dropped his surname. Recently, she shared clips from her vacation in Siargao with her rumored boyfriend.