Part 1: Esther Kwan – Focus on Family Life20 years of acting experience, over 60 TV series to her credit (TVB, ATV, plus China and Taiwan series), inaugural TV Queen (first year of TVB’s Anniversary Awards), and nicknamed “Queen of Hong Kong Series” by the entertainment industry in China…..for Esther Kwan, all of these accomplishments pale in comparisons to the 2 people who matter most to her: husband Nick Cheung and daughter Brittany.
After marrying Nick, Esther has ‘left’ the TV industry 3 times (she calls it a ‘mini-retirement’) – in 2006, before and after her daughter Brittany was born, she stopped working for a total of 2 years; in 2007, she ‘came out of retirement’ to film the series "Best Selling Secrets" for TVB, however in order to take care of her daughter, she made the decision to quit the series halfway into it; last year, when she had a little bit of time prior to her daughter entering school (and Nick was available to take care of Brittany), she filmed the series "Season of Fate" that is currently airing on TVB. Esther has admitted that this time around, her ‘mini-retirement’ (after filming "Season of Fate") will be for a longer time – in the coming months, her focus will be entirely on being a good mother for Brittany and the ‘woman behind the scenes’ for her Movie King husband Nick.
Feelings of Guilt from Working
Since Esther’s contract with TVB expired at the end of last year, she now ‘belongs’ entirely to Nick Cheung.
“Actually, I belong to the ‘Cheung Family’ not to ‘Nick’—the Cheung Family does not consist of just Nick alone; in the coming days, I will be taking on the ‘role’ of being a good mother and good wife. When I first made the decision to go down this path (retirement), I did feel a little hesitant and unhappy in the beginning. There are a lot of mothers out there who are able to balance their career and family so well – I considered possibly doing this too and continuing to film series. However, during the time when I was filming "Best Selling Secrets", I struggled with feelings of guilt for not being able to take care of my daughter…I realized then that I’m not the type who can do multiple things at once. Now, watching my daughter grow up every day makes me so happy that the struggles I used to experience have been entirely forgotten. On deeper thought, from the day I decided to become a mother, I already committed to the responsibility, so there shouldn’t have been a conflict (between career and family) in the first place.”
Changing Her Personality For Her Daughter
Esther Kwan has always been the career-minded type and with work, she has been especially strong-willed, so it is hard to imagine how much she has sacrificed for her 4 year old daughter.
“I feel that I am a ‘focus-oriented’ type [of person]; in the past, I would ‘focus’ on acting, now I ‘focus’ on learning to be a mother. I don’t feel that this is ‘sacrificing’ because I clearly understand what I want in life. A lot of my daughter’s classmates’ mothers were also once working professionals, but now are full-time stay-at-home moms. There are different stages in life – for me, acting is something that I know well and have confidence in, but when it comes to being a mother, I am a ‘newbie.’ Last year, when my daughter started school, I was not able to anticipate what types of difficulties I would possible encounter. The first month Brittany started school, she was very excited and happy, however later on she would cry endlessly as soon as she set foot in the school’s doors – this occurred for quite some time. At the time, I was completely lost and didn’t know what to do – the more she cried, the more my head ached – it was crazy! Luckily, the teachers and her classmates’ mothers helped me out – I found out that at school, Brittany was struggling with another classmate over toys and she (Brittany) felt like she was being bullied; she didn’t know how to communicate well with the classmate and in the ‘strange’ environment, she felt lonely. At her young age, she didn’t understand how to handle things emotionally yet, so all she could do was cry.”
Roger Kwok, who has collaborated with Esther the most in filming series, once commented that the one thing about her personality that has not changed in all these years is her habit of not engaging in needless chit-chat while working. However, because of her daughter, she now spends about 3 days a week socializing and having ‘tea party’gatherings with other parents from her daughter’s school.
“I’m not a very assertive or active person at all; the reason I attend these gatherings is so that my daughter and her classmates have more opportunity to play together and thereby open the lines of communication. The gatherings allow us parents to share tips and best practices while at the same time my daughter is able to widen her social circle and learn to communicate with others.”
Similar to Winning the Lottery
With her husband and daughter being the entire focus of her life now, Esther has become especially low-key and private when it comes to the entertainment industry. Even with her husband Nick winning so many film awards last year, she chose to be the ‘woman behind the scenes’ – preferring to stay at home and take care of their daughter while waiting for him to deliver the ‘good news’ about his wins.
“I don’t feel that Nick winning 6 Movie King awards last year was too much – in fact, I hope that there are more to come in the future. The joy and happiness of seeing him win those awards was like winning the lottery – very exciting and wonderful; as his wife, I am very proud of him. However, at the same time, I did feel a little regret – when I won the ‘TV Queen’ award at the height of my career, it was too bad that I didn’t get the chance to enter the movie industry, especially since many of the biggest names in the HK film industry now once started their careers in television. During the time when my career was at its peak (in the 90s), the trend in the film industry was on glamour and sexiness and many actresses in movies wore very sexy (or very little) clothes. Since I wasn’t that type of actress, I didn’t have any opportunity!”
Nick and Esther started dating during filming of the 1992 series "The Story of Bruce Lee"; at the time, Esther was already a first-rate ATV actress (‘fa dan’), but Nick was only a 2nd/3rd line actor – their relationship was revealed when the 2 of them were spotted together ‘eating fish balls’ bought from a street vendor. After experiencing highs and lows in their careers and in their love relationship, the 2 finally married in 2003 – in the blink of an eye it seems, they’ve been together now for almost 18 years.
“At that time, both of us were not that well-known, so even though we were dating, there wasn’t much commotion or gossip. Actually, to be honest, the two of us haven’t changed much – sometimes, when Nick feels like eating street food, we would still go to the local street vendors and buy some ‘fish balls’ or other foods. We don’t let his ‘Movie King’ status get to our heads – for us, it’s still simple family life. The relationship between Nick and myself has reached a higher level in terms of communication – I don’t need to ask him about every single thing that happens; if there is an important situation that he feels he needs to tell me about or I feel I need to talk to him about something, we sit down and talk it out. A year ago, when he was experiencing emotional and personality issues from non-stop filming, he had a lot of friends who helped him out and gave him different perspectives on things – I just quietly stood by him and supported him. He is the type of person who gets so immersed in his acting that he could lose himself (his love of acting is far greater than mine)…knowing this, the best way for me to support him is to allow him the freedom to pursue his acting and take it to the next level.”
Not Worried About Husband Having Indiscretions
Another reassurance for Esther is that Nick is rarely ever surrounded by gossip or rumors, so she is not worried about him ‘being naughty’ (having indiscretions).
“Well, the HK paparazzi is always following him, so I’m not worried. He’s very alert and if he notices that someone wants to ‘get close’, he knows to avoid the situation so the person doesn’t have the chance to pursue it. His sense of alertness and self-control is extremely high – he’s very much ‘afraid of misery.’ He knows that certain situations or actions could have serious consequences, so he doesn’t let himself give in to temptation – though maybe in his mind he wants to….haha!” This couple has such a great relationship that whenever Esther mentions Nick’s name, the feeling she gets is sweetness. Years ago, there was once a cover story in a magazine about the 2 of them, which they have saved and treasured to this day. At the time, the two of them lived in a small village house in Sai Kung – in order to get to the front door, they had to climb several flights of stairs. One time, a reporter had captured a picture (unbeknownst to them) of Nick carrying a tired Esther (she had just gotten off from work) on his back climbing up the stairs to their home. (How sweet!). Nowadays, though they are a ‘3-person’ family living in a mansion of sorts, the feeling is still just as sweet.
“Haha! Not really – now, he will only carry Brittany on his back, he won’t carry me! In fact, now he carries her so much that even if his arms shake and his feet are tired, he still refuses to let her go. As for me, I already told Brittany that she is a big girl now – if she continues to sit on my lap, my legs are going to break!”
Esther enjoys and cherishes the family life she has right now….asked whether she would consider acting again, she says: “Acting is a job I like doing, however some things need to be prioritized in life – right now, my daughter is the most important. If there is a film role that is a good fit for me, I may consider it…I will continue to film commercials though, since the timing for those is more flexible. In terms of TV series, there aren’t that many roles that are suitable for someone of my age nowadays…maybe in a couple years when my daughter is older and less attached to me, then we'll see...
Source: Mingpao
Translation: llwy12 @ AsianFanatics
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