Fragrance entrepreneur Joel Cruz, owner of Aficianado perfumes, has always been happy to share his fatherhood journey, but he hasn’t really opened up about the women who made this possible—until now.
In a recent Instagram post, the dad-of-six shared a photo taken with his twins' biological and surrogate mom. In the photo, the babies can be seen in Olesia and Lilia’s arms while they’re travelling by train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. According to PEP, it was taken in Russia shortly before Joel brought his babies to their home in the Philippines.
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It was back in 2012 when Cruz welcomed his first pair of twins, Prince Sean and Princess Synne. His second set of twins, Prince Harry and Prince Harvey, were born three years later.
All of Joel’s six kids were conceived and birthed through in vitro fertilization by the same surrogate, Olesia, who carried his twins and by Lilia, the biological mom of his bundles of joy.
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Looking back on his life ten years before being a dad, he told Rated K that he had no idea about the responsibilities that come with being a father.
"’Yung talagang excited na excited ka makita ‘yung mga babies tapos nakita mo na," he recalled, describing the feeling of seeing his kids for the first time. "Kamukha ko sila, parang confirmed ‘yung anak mo talaga."
In a previous interview, he opened up that he plans to leave his successful businesses, Aficionado Germany Perfume, Joel Cruz Signatures and AFSS-Aficionado Apparel, to his kids one day.
“Sa kanila talaga. Siyempre, may will din naman ako,” he told ABS-CBN. "Pinag-uusapan namin siya ngayon. One of my nieces kasi is a lawyer.”
But more than leaving his business empire to them, he wants his kids to inherit his passion for philanthropy, and to continue helping the charitable institutions he’s helped over the years.
sources: ABS-CBN, Sun Star, PEP
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