Annie Liu Unable to Accept Her Younger Stepmom
Her parents’ failed marriage has also made Annie insecure about relationships.
Born in Taiwan, Annie Liu’s (劉心悠) parents divorced when she was very young. While she has some happy childhood memories of her father, she was sent to Canada after turning 10 years old for studies.
“I had not sensed that I would be parting with my parents; I thought that they were accompanying me. When I reached Canada, I had to take care of all my meals in my youth. Though my family did not need me to earn my own school fees; I told them not to send any money to me in future.”
Because of this, in her teenage years Annie was already working in retail sales after classes. “With the exception of lingerie shops, I have worked at almost every other shop, including fast food chains, shoe and clothing retailers, restaurants, and even as a debt collection officer for a wireless service provider. I heard many vulgarities when I called to chase customers for their debts.”
Annie’s parents later divorced. As a result of her experiences while growing up, she developed a very independent personality. “I don’t like to depend on others, and will pay for things I want to buy on my own.”
Reel Life Mirrors Real Life
In her new drama Guardian Angel <守護神之保險調查> produced by Shaw Brothers, Annie plays a hardy insurance investigation officer Do Sam Yu, with a short hairdo to complement her personality. Acting for the first time in a modern drama in Cantonese, she faced yet another challenge.
Apparently, the producer of the series had done some background research on Annie, modelling aspects of her role on the actress’s personal life, such as the fact that she is vegetarian. Mirroring her real life, her father in the drama (played Hugo Ng 吳岱融), married a woman who is younger than herself. Surprised that the producer knew so much about her personal life, Annie was told that the details were written so she would feel more in sync with her onscreen persona.
“There were a few scenes where I felt a great deal of psychological pressure. I reacted strongly to one particular scene when my father and his girlfriend announced their marriage. It was very difficult to follow the comedic treatment required in the script, as my entire body was shaking and I was feeling resistant; those scenes were really tough for me.”
Resists Her stepmother and Half-brother
Until now, the 37-year-old actress has yet to accept the fact that her father had married a woman who is younger than herself.
“Although I can’t help it that my parents’ ties have soured, they are both my loved ones and I would not take sides. I’m okay that my father has found someone, but it feels uncomfortable that she is younger than I am. I do not agree with his decision, though it’s not up to me. It’s so awkward, maybe others can agree with this more easily, but I can’t.”
Annie added that she would keep silent during meetings with her stepmother. While Annie does not show her animosity, she also does not pretend to be friendly and would just not react. “I feel that the woman should at least be older than myself. I wouldn’t feel as strongly if the man was not my father, but I wouldn’t change my mind on this even in the future,” she said.
Meeting up with her half brother recently, Annie did not how to react. She felt more detached with him than a new crew member on the filming set.
Finds It Hard to Develop Trust In Relationships
Instead of seeing her feelings as a problem to be resolved, Annie prefers to let things take their natural course. She would not force herself to put up a false front just to create a better image, as it would make her uncomfortable. She said, “It’s not about being filial or not, (my) father would understand my feelings and know why I do not agree. Mom also agrees with me and says it is ridiculous.”
Adding that her friends know that she finds it hard to get involved in relationships, Annie declares that she finds dating “meaningless” and “does not believe in love” due to her unhappy experience. She tried dating in the past, but found it hard to trust her partner even though he did nothing wrong. “Even if there was a good man standing in front of me now, I wouldn’t know what to do. It’s not that I choose not to love, but that I can’t,” she concluded.
Source: Ming Pao Weekly
This article is written by JoyceK for JayneStars.com.
yea, experience like this really ruins your faith in the opposite sex. makes you question what true love is…
@m0m0
I do not think so as my parents’ had a very bad and sad marriage but I never lost faith in the opposite sex. I am glad my brothers did not too as some of them are happily married. Just because anyone’s parents’ have had an unhappy marriage does not mean we will too. Also, your parents can have a happy marriage but that does not mean you will too.
@hetieshou
i don’t mean as losing faith as you don’t like the opposite sex if you are straight. you may lose faith in marriage and question what true love is. you will fall in love but hesitate to say forever. of course, having good parents as example doesn’t mean you will have a happy marraige too but at least you’d be more incline to think about the future with your partner.
@m0m0
No I know what you meant, however, I will still say the same thing, just because your parents did not have a happy marriage does mean you will go through the same thing. On the same token, your parents can have a happy marriage while you suffer a divorce. It just depends on you and your future spouse. I find it sad that people think that just because their parents had a sad marriage that they will suffer the same fate. My parents had a sad marriage but I never once thought that I will too. I even vowed to myself to find a compatible partner one day and hopefully have a way happier marriage than my late parents did. I find it extremely sad that people have to wonder what true love is due to their parents failed marriage. One forum member told me this one time and I will never forget. He said “ if you are married or in a relationship and are happy, enjoy it while it lasts instead of worrying about when it will end”. Life is unpredictable and of course everyone wants love to last for a lifetime but if it does not, at least you did have a period of happiness. I met some widowers who loved their late spouses til the end but death parted them. Nothing can last “forever” if you know what I mean but only a lifetime at most.
@hetieshou I have to agree with you also. My parents’s marriage is not great either. I remember for the short amount of time I live with them, I constantly said to them “just get divorced?”. I don’t have the issues with trust and commitment, but what I have is believing in the marriage certificate. I believe as long as you and your partner love each other, married or not, doesn’t matter. As that certificate does not say guarantee a successful marriage or that you both love each other.
Although I also have friend who believe that she has no luck with man and long term relationship because of her family, and how her mother and grandmother blindly trust and love men who treated them like dirt, making her very sceptical of men. Which is true, however, she also can’t help herself but constantly look down on them, and think she’s smarter than them, I know it’s a loop, but inside people don’t tend to see their problem, and/or able to fix it. Like I mention in one of my previous post, you can grow up with something, how you view the matter change (negatively or positively) how your life turn out.
Lots of people forget that in order for you to find someone, you also need to willing to be vulnerable, yes, you might get hurt, yes, you might fail. But like the usual saying you never know until you try, you never succeed until you fail. It’s brave to be in a relationship, it’s brave to end a relationship, just be positive 🙂
That’s sad as she such a beautiful actress! No wonder she is still single! Always thought Kevin had a crush on her on those rumors of them…
@jessehsuan
I actually find it sad that she is allowing her parents’ failed marriage to dictate her life like that. Her parents’ marriage should not have anything to do with her own love life/ future marriage. I hope she can let it all go and separate those bad experiences of the past and move forward or else she is just living in the sad past which will affect her present and future.
She is one of my fav actress and she is gorgeous. Sad to hear about her childhood experiences. Wish her all the best
While I understand what she is saying but men LOVE them young and that’s a fact. You being mad is one thing and hard to accept it is another but it still won’t change things. I don’t think anyone should let that dictate your life w/the opposite sex because of your parents failed marriage. That’s just my take on it of course.
@wm2017
It depends on the man as some like older women but generally men like younger women. I agree with you that we should not let our parents’ failed marriage dictate our romantic life. On the same token, our parents can have a happy marriage while we have a failed marriage. No one should have doubts about marriage and relationships due to their parents’ sad marriage.Just because their marriage is sad does not mean ours will be that way as well.
@wm2017 sometimes people just need a dose of reality check. Like I never thought of the difficulties my grandparents have to endure to raise me until a talk with my cousin made me rethink everything and actually realise how lucky I was. Same with her, she might not realise how unhappy her father was in the marriage. And with her mom constantly complained in her ears about how her dad has someone else, even if it’s not the current wife, it already gave her a bad impression. Combine with the age, it just makes everything worse. (I have such Asian mom lol) in a few years, I think she will change her mind, unless the dad and his young wife broke up lol.
I would feel the same if my dad married someone younger than me. Or even if the age was close.
Annie looks a bit like Cecilia Cheung from the picture above maybe they have similar nose?