For her first Mother’s Day, Janella Salvador graced the cover of Metro.Style, and her son Jude joined her in the shoot.

Six months into motherhood, the Kapamilya actress has noticeably grown and matured since she last graced the pages of Metro magazine. Being a mother gave Janella purpose and direction in life, and it allowed her to tap into her “inner strength.”

But as a new mom, she knows that she still has a long way to go, and that learning never stops when you’re a parent. Thankfully, she has her partner Markus Paterson to go through and overcome the struggles of first-time parenthood with. Janella’s mom Jenine Desiderio is always present as well, to guide her along the way.

“Some people tend to think that when you become a mom, of course, you have to have everything perfectly planned out, like everything’s under control…,” Janella told Metro.Style. “It’s really tough to keep it all together, but you have to… It’s okay, it’s okay to not have it all together. It’s okay to struggle, and the mere fact that you’re worried about being a good mom means that you’re already being a good mom, because you care.”

In the cover story, Janella also opened up about dealing with confidence issues after giving birth, but that she’s “slowly getting her old self back” by devoting more time for some much-deserved self-care activities.

Shortly after Janella and Markus came out with their baby reveal in January of this year, Metro.Style also had an in-depth interview with her, where she detailed her pregnancy journey, her first three months of motherhood, and the reason for keeping her pregnancy from the public at first.

In that interview, she mentioned, “‘Yung biggest realization ko was nakakatuwa na the very thing na akala ng mga tao na ikahihiya ko, it gave me more strength, more confidence. Wala na akong pretensions.”

For her Metro.Style cover feature, she was photographed in her home by Seven Barretto, with creative direction and production design by Chookie Cruz. Makeup artist Anthea Bueno, hairstylist Ezekiel Otilla, and stylist Perry Tabora glammed her up for the shoot. Also present during the pictorial was videographer Pat Buenaobra, who captured heartwarming behind-the-scenes clips of Janella and baby Jude. She was interviewed by Metro.Style People section editor Grace Libero-Cruz.

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