Maxene Magalona returned to Instagram after confirming her divorce to share some lessons she learned from her marriage.

“Give yourself to God before you give yourself away,” the actress began.

Instead of becoming more Christian, Maxene pursued a career in psychology. Most relationships fail, she believes, because people enter them with unresolved trauma and unprocessed pain from childhood.

“When two wounded souls come together, no matter how great things are at the beginning, they will end up unconsciously projecting their traumas and pain onto each other if neither of them do the inner work to heal,” she said.

Maxene encouraged her followers to have very honest conversations about their intentions, past traumas, fears, and heartaches, among other things, in their relationships.

“I believe what will truly make [a relationship] last is when we can just be completely honest with each other and have deep and meaningful conversations—especially the uncomfortable ones,” she said.

“This will help you determine whether or not you want to continue with the relationship and if you think it will work. This will save you time and unnecessary pain.”

Finally, the actress and mental health advocate shared another lesson: “Never chase. Attract.”

Maxene and her husband Rob Mananquil’s divorce rumors first popped up in January. Netizens with sharp eyes noticed that Maxene had stopped following Rob on Instagram and had dropped his surname.

They married in 2018, first in a small church wedding and after that a ceremony in Boracay.

Maxene first revealed her single status in October, with an Instagram post about going on a solo date.