As a single parent, Nathalie Hart admits finding a challenge to have to make every decision in raising her five-year-old daughter Penelope.

The actress-producer reflected on single parenthood during her press conference and signing for Viva Artists Agency (VAA) last Friday, October 4, after being asked by the media about the challenges she faced as a single mom.

Penelope is Nathalie’s daughter with Indian businessman Mayank Sharma. The couple separated last 2019.

“I saw my other friends na meron silang kagabay na asawa and everything. Mahirap lang na you have to decide everything,” she said. “There’s good cop and bad cop and you’re both so how can you play those two roles? ’Yon lang siguro ang pinakamahirap doon.”

With Mayank being far away in India, Nathalie realized that she cannot simply just leave Penelope with him as she would be traveling back and forth from two different countries, so she decided to take care of her in the Philippines.

“We live in two different countries so ’di ko siya pwedeng iiwan sa isang parent, alam mo ’yon? ’Di katulad sa iba na malapit lang ’yong bahay ng asawa nila so that’s the only problem that I think is hard, especially when your ex is in a different country,” she said.

“You have to do everything on your own. Your schedule is aligned with your child every single day. You can’t just plan new things [just] like that,” she added. “Now, it’s a very different life. Kailangan pag-uwi ng bata, may nakahanda ng pagkain.”

Nathalie also saw the difference of taking care of a child in the Philippines and Australia, where she lived at a time with her ex-husband Brad Robert.

“Ang maganda lang sa Pilipinas is you get to have people to help you in the house pero sa ibang bansa kasi, sa Australia, you do everything on your own. Ikaw lang lahat,” she recounted.

Nathalie also revealed that Penelope understands her parents’ situation as the latter is very close with her father.

“That’s the best thing. Even though we broke up and everything, we made sure that the dad and her talk on a weekly basis, they talked about what happened in school, everyday life. That makes my life easier that I don’t have to explain,” she said. “The only thing we had to do is explain why dad and mom are not together anymore.”

She added that the best thing about her co-parenting situation with Mayank is they both share one common perspective—that it’s not about them but about Penelope.

“It’s really not about me and the dad, it’s about us being a parent to the child. Both of us naman are good parents so maganda. Hindi nakakastress kasi ’diba usually ’yong parents na naghihiwalay, either the wife or the husband are not part of the home. Sa amin, co-parenting pa rin kami kahit we live in different countries,” she said.

Nathalie also wishes that when Penelope enters high school, she wants her to visit her father and his relatives back in India.

“Siyempre, since she’s too young, gusto ko sa akin muna ang bata. ’Pag high school na, pwede na natin pag-usapan na ‘Maybe you want to try your other country. Na-try mo na sa Pilipinas, doon ka naman. ’Pag ayaw mo, balik ka dito.’ ’Yon ’yong plano namin,” she said.

Nathalie became one of the newest members of Viva Artists Agency last October 4, after simply having a film contract with Viva Films for the past few years.

At present, she has three upcoming film projects, namely the family drama Isla Babuyan with Jameson Blake and Paolo Gumabao, the comedy Hibla with Ella Cruz and Julian Trono, and the Bollywood film Pareidolia. In the latter film, she is the only Filipina cast member and will serve as one of the producers under BluArt Productions.