Following her performance as Taylor Swift on Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids, child star Xia Vigor continue to earn global fame with features from various international media organizations.

Her mother, Christy Bernardo considers all of these her answered prayer. “The day before it all happened (Monday night), I’m in my room, I’m praying at sobrang napaiyak ako kasi hindi ako makapagdecide kung is this really for Xia,” she said.

Admitting that she was contemplating whether to just let Xia focus on her studies, Christy said, “Kasi sabi ko, sa age niya (seven years old), mas okay siguro na bumalik na lang siyang mag-artista ‘pag medyo ano na siya, 15, 16. Pero gustong gusto kasi niya. That’s what’s stopping me from going away from it all. So nag-pray ako. Tapos, ‘nung pag gising ko ng umaga, feeling ko, parang ito ba ‘yung answer sa prayer ko?”

Now, Xia has been receiving various offers such as an opportunity to go to Hollywood, as well as an invite to appear in The Ellen Degeneres Show.

According to Christy, the Hollywood offer came ahead of the global fame, about five months ago, when they met a Hollywood director at an elevator.

“Sabi niya, ‘Do you know what you have there?’ Tapos naiyak ako ‘nung sinabi niyang, ‘I’ve been looking for someone like that for 15 years and now, I found her,” she narrated, adding that the director saw Xia in a wafer commercial.

“Kasi tumatak daw sa kanya ‘nung napanood niya… Sabi raw niya, ‘this girl has something.’ Kaya lang hindi niya alam kung paano niya kokontakin ‘yung girl na ‘yun… Hindi pa niya alam na siya ‘yun. ‘Nung nagkukwentuhan na lang kami.”

The director then got surprised when he learned that Xia and the girl from the commercial are the same person.

When asked if the director plans to make Xia an actress abroad, Christy answered, “’Yan ‘yung sabi niya sa akin pero hindi kasi ako ‘yung tipong nanay that will just grab it. Gusto ko ‘yung anak ko masaya. Masaya siya dito at nagagawa naman niya ‘yung gusto niya so para sa akin, Hollywood is a different ball game.”

“I don’t know if she will be pressured so much to be there so kaya ako nagpepray din. Dapat ko ba siyang dalhin do’n? Para sa kanya ba ‘yun? O dito lang ba kami kasi masaya naman siya dito, may projects naman siya, so dito na lang para hindi siya masyadong nape-pressure so ‘yun ‘yung iniisip ko. Tapos biglang nangyari nga ito. So parang nireremind ako na there is a bigger world… O pwede naman sigurong pareho, dito t’saka doon.”

Regarding the Ellen guesting, Christy said that they are now coordinating with Your Face Sounds Familiar to set an interview with Xia.

But along with Xia’s newfound global fame also comes critics. One of them happened to be Good Morning Britain’s Piers Morgan, who called the performance as “one of the creepiest things” he watched. He also mentioned the topic of “sexualization of young girls.”

Giving a strong opinion on the matter, Xia’s mother said, “Para sa akin kasi, that’s very irresponsible of him to comment on something like that, na hindi mo alam ‘yung both sides of the story. It’s very basic for a journalist. He should know na, know your facts first bago ka nag-comment because in the end, you might look like an idiot, commenting on something that you don’t really know.”

“I know Piers Morgan. I watch him every day when we’re there (UK) and I have respect for him, that he’s a good journalist pero because of what he did, parang medyo na-ano ako, na he shouldn’t be saying something like that. It’s very irresponsible. She’s not being sexualized. I will be the first one to stop everyone if I know that my daughter is being sexualized in any way so I don’t think it’s right.”

Saying that it is sad that a lot of people agree with Piers, she added, “It’s purely entertainment. Masaya tayo na napapanood ‘yung mga bata nagpapa-cute, di ba? Pa-cute lang ‘yun. ‘Yun lang ‘yun, masyado nilang binibigyan ng issue.”