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Rivera was born in Madrid, Spain to Francisco Javier Gracia Alonso, a Spaniard, and Amalia Rivera, a Filipina from Cavite. Her parents married and eventually divorced when she was three years old, after which her mother brought her to the Philippines where she grew up. However, her mother had to leave to continue her work commitment abroad and Rivera was sent to her maternal grandmother, Francisca Rivera, in Bacoor, Cavite.

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