MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. opened up about his family's life while in exile in Hawaii after his father being toppled from power in 1986.
In Gary Valenciano's 'Unshaken' podcast, the President was asked about an episode in his life where he felt shaken.
"I don't think anyone would be surprised that it was ‘86 when my life was totally upended. And not only my life, but the life of every person around me," he told Valenciano.
"All my relatives, all my friends, all the people I worked with, everything, everything changed. Everything completely changed," he added.
"One day, you're the son of the president and you're sitting in a palace. And then two days later, you're in Hawaii and you don't know what on earth has happened," Marcos said.
The Marcos family flew to Hawaii at the height of the historic EDSA People Power which ended more than two decades of rule of his father.
The President said their life in Hawaii was different from the life he used to live.
"You're not allowed to go back home. You cannot even get a job. You cannot even talk to people that you feel you have a need to talk to because they isolated us," he added.
"And so it is, put it this way the reason is the biggest, shall we say, part, the biggest shaken moment of my life is that none of what we did after ‘86… When we got to Hawaii, our lives did not resemble our previous life in any way whatsoever," he added.
Marcos said he needed to adjust heavily with their new life.
"But then you eventually look, there's no more good old days. Time moves in one direction, it doesn't go back and forth. So, you're moving down that timeline. So, deal with it," he said.
The President admitted it was tough losing much of their lives after the uprising.
"And that was tough to do because all your life it’s the same life. And now you're what? How old was I? I must have been about 28 years old in ‘86. And suddenly, that whole life was just disappeared," he said.
"And that's why, for me, it was the biggest like earthquake in my life. And I know in the lives of many, many other people who were associated with us, who were – certainly my family, but all the people that were around us," Marcos added.
The Marcos family eventually returned to the Philippines after their exile and slowly got back to power.
Marcos won the presidency in 2022 with over 31 million votes.