Her birth mother is a Filipina (d. 2008 in Singapore) whom she never met. Her birth father, Mark Charlson, is a retired U.S. Navy man from Iowa, United States; who, in the mid-1980's was on the U.S.S. O'Brien stationed in the Philippines. She was adopted by Annabelle Panganiban when she was a baby, and her grandparents Adolfo and Mila Panganiban, helped raise her. In an interview on the show 'Banana Split' her grandmother Mila calls her 'Angel' because she says, it's as if God sent Angelica to their family as a blessing.
