Auliʻi Cravalho Opens Up About Full-Circle Moment Buying Her Mom a House After “Moana” Success: 'So Grateful' (Exclusive)

“Your parents give you so much,” Auliʻi Cravalho tells PEOPLE. “Kids feel a little indebted, I'm going to be honest!”

Moana star Auliʻi Cravalho is well aware of the sacrifices her parents made to help set her up for success.

With Moana 2 now in theaters, the 24-year-old Hawaii native is reflecting on the full-circle moment of returning to the Polynesian-inspired chieftess character that changed her life overnight. “I really get to have that full decade look back at just how much growth I've gone through,” she tells PEOPLE.

The biggest change? Cravalho’s mother, Puanani, raised her on food stamps on the Big Island and Oahu, she recalls. “We lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Mililani when I was cast. I slept in the bedroom, my mom slept on the couch. She gave me everything.”

Related: Auli'i Cravalho Left Her 'Comfort Zone' for Broadway's Cabaret. How the Moana Star Found Her Sally Bowles (Exclusive)

In the wake of Moana launching her into the spotlight, Cravalho says with a smile, “I bought my mommy a house. She's happily retired.”

The Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club star remains close with both parents, who ran a construction company and divorced when she was young. “Your parents give you so much,” she says. “Kids feel a little indebted, I'm going to be honest! But we feel so grateful for our parents’ sacrifices.”

Her mother and father, Dwayne, also taught Cravalho valuable lessons as she went from ordinary Kamehameha Schools student to Disney starlet back in 2014. “My parents were like, ‘Listen, if [Moana] doesn't go anywhere, you need to finish high school. You need to do the dishes. You need to fix your bed. Don't let it get to your head.’”

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And when she used to come home after promoting Moana and have to do school work, Cravalho says, she would sometimes “be a little s---. I'd be a little gremlin. I'm going to be honest, I didn't have anything left… Sometimes people talk about being a Disney kid, and I think so much of it is giving all of your energy to a project and then having nothing in reserve for yourself.”

It was her mother who “nipped that in the bud real quick,” the Mean Girls star adds. “She was the one to discipline. She was the one to really support me right then and there… That was some tough parenting in allowing me to grow as a human, but also looking me in the eye and saying, ‘You need to be kind and you need to be kind to me.’ It was at those moments that I realized, ‘Okay, I can't give all of myself.’”

Related: How Moana 2's Music Will Be 'Darker': 'There's a Lot of Deeper Layers to These Songs,' Says Auli'i Cravalho

Moana 2 sees Cravalho back in the title role alongside Dwayne Johnson, who voices demigod Maui, as well as Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Rachel House, Alan Tudyk and more. Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, the sequel features new songs from Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.