Up to now, superstar Nora Aunor still feels regret after losing her golden singing voice when she underwent a cosmetic surgery in Japan 14 years ago, claiming it felt like the botched job was done “on purpose” to ruin her voice.

Despite being the most awarded Filipina actress in the country, Aunor stressed that singing remained to be her greatest love and it hurt her that she cannot sing anymore.

“Ang pinaka love ko talaga ‘yung pag-awit kasi kung hindi dahil sa pag-kanta ay hindi ako makakatulong sa pamilya at hindi rin ako makikilala ng mga tao, kaya nung masira ang boses ko, sinira nila eh, para bang sinadya. Hanggang ngayon, hindi ako nakakakanta,” she told Maricel Soriano in a recent interview.

(What I really love most is singing because if it wasn’t for singing, I wouldn’t be able to help my family and people wouldn’t recognize me, so when my voice broke, they broke it as if it’s intentional. Until now, I can’t sing.)

The 2022 National Artist for film and broadcast arts claimed that she was enticed to endorse a facial clinic in Japan. But after the procedure, she noticed that she was no longer able to recover her voice.

“Nasa States ako non may nagpunta sakin, dadalhin daw ako sa Japan kasi kukunin ako mag-eendorso ng isang [facial]. Pag dating ko doon, pinahiga ako, pinatulog, pag-gising ko wala na akong boses, ‘ayun ang totoong nangyari doon,” she recalled.

(I was in the States and someone came to me; they said they would take me to Japan because they would get me to endorse a [facial]. When I got there, they put me to bed, put me to sleep, and when I woke up, my voice was gone; that’s what really happened there.)

Aunor said that they tried to sue the people who were accountable for the surgery but she did not disclosed what happened to the lawsuit now. She said she had undergone another surgery to bring back her original voice but that, too, failed.

In February 2010, Aunor went back to the Philippines and appeared in a TV interview with a normal speaking voice. In May of the same year, she performed at a concert in Canada with actor Juan Rodrigo, with whom she formed a special friendship. At that time, Aunor was accused of lip-synching her songs during the concert, but Rodrigo then came to her defense.

Aunor confided to her fans that her vocal cords got affected by cosmetic surgery in Japan. She said her doctors even forbade her to talk long enough and that the concert in Toronto was going to be her last, which it was.

In 2023, the National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts attempted to sing again in the movie “Pieta.”