Carman Lee’s Dark Days Filled With Suicidal Thoughts

Carman Lee (李若彤) makes her television comeback in Eric Tsang’s (曾志偉) new drama, M Club. Absent from screens for years, Carman had suffered from mood disorders since her father’s death. After five years of this torturous illness, Carman finally returns to the entertainment scene.

Many people remember Carman from the 1995 hit series, The Condor Heroes <神雕侠侣>, as Little Dragon Girl alongside Louis Koo (古天樂). During the peak of her popularity, she also starred in Stephen Chow’s (周星馳) movie, Forbidden City Cop <大內密探零零發>, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils <天龍八部> and Operation Zero < G4特工>. Coming from a family of 10 children, she took part in her first commercial at the age of 17 and worked as a stewardess prior to her official acting debut. In 2003, after she started dating her businessman boyfriend, she slowly made her way out of the entertainment industry. However, after many years of dating, Carman revealed that she has no plans for marriage and wants to live life as it comes and go with the flow.

Dark Days and Suicidal Thoughts

Carman stated that after her breakup in 2008, she began suffering from mild mood swings and hints of depression but it was not until her father suffered from a stroke in 2009 did the world seem to fall apart. Carman shed tears when talking about her past and cried, “Those couple of years were the darkest times of my life; I just got out of a relationship and my dad was in terrible health. My emotions were all over the place. I’ve even thought about suicide! But God blessed me with a niece who comforted me the entire time. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her.”

Carman then received treatment for her depression and was on medication to combat against her mood disorders too. Over the past year, her condition has slowly improved thanks to the medication and she is still learning how to control her emotions properly. She bravely stated that as long as she has her family’s support and acceptance of the illness, it does not matter if the public finds out.

After being out of the entertainment loop for so long, Carman admitted, “Before bumping into Chow Yun Fat (周潤發) last year, I was still in the stumps. I wasn’t filming or doing anything. After talking to him, I finally realized that I should restart my life again! So now, I’m aiming to get my fitness trainer license!”

New Chapter In Life

After taking advice from Chow Yun Fat and receiving encouragement from her niece, Carman rediscovered her passion for acting and decided to start fresh again. When asked about her love life, Carman openly responded, “Nope! I don’t have anyone right now. If this were two years ago, I’d probably have thoughts on wanting a stabilized marriage but nowadays, my own happiness is more important!”

At age 39, Carman still looks relatively young despite having gone through mood disorders and depression. However, Carman does not mind being called old and emphasized the importance of being optimistic and enjoying life with the ones you love. M Club will be Carman’s first drama since her return. Even though she does not have high hopes due to high competition, she feels no pressure because the process and experience is more significant.

M Club Cast’s Woeful Stories

Although the rest of the veteran cast does not suffer from mood disorders and depression like Carman, they all have their own woeful stories. Gloria Yip (葉蘊儀) suffered from a disastrous flash marriage and infidelity while she was younger and finally filed for divorce in 2000.

Rachel Lee’s (李麗珍) marriage also ended in shambles after four years and ended up being a third-party in another relationship. After widespread negative publicity, she finally decided to return to acting and accepted Eric’s offer to be star in M Club.

Flora Chan (陳慧珊), who was a top actress in the nineties at TVB, had to tend to her family due to her husband’s bankruptcy last year.

Elvina Kong’s (江欣燕) divorce with her husband of 12 years shocked viewers as the pair was seen inseparable for the past decade with no indication of their troubling marriage.

Angie Cheong (張慧儀) was a third-party to Nat Chan (陳百祥) and Cecilia Wong’s (黃杏秀) relationship and was the victim of physical abuse by her fiancé in 2003.

Fennie Yuen (袁潔瑩) suffered from anorexia in the 1990s and ended up weighing a mere 77 pounds before getting help. Then in 2005, it was said that she was romantically involved with Yuen Ka Yan (阮嘉欣) leading the public to think that she has changed her sexual preferences.  This year, Fennie and Ka Yan ended their long-time relationship.

Source: Apple Daily via ihktv.com

This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.

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Responses

    1. She’s aged quite a bit. Something with her eye make up that bothers me …

      I know i may be a minority in thinking she’s a bit on the older side.

      1. I thought so… i thought she is in her 40’s… something about the eyes…sloping down???

  1. She’s so beautiful why would she get depressed over a guy? That’s nuts! Must’ve been a millionaire or something!

    1. b/c he took all the money with him….won’t give her anything..

      1. well unless he swindled her, it was never her money so who cares? He’s just someone that she used to know, right?

        Man, that Gotye video is really repulsive. Bleurghhhh.

    2. EXACTLY! plus she must be prettier in reality than in photographs so she must get flattering attention every time she leaves the house – I bet Lom Geet Ying still does as well – so WHY and HOW could she possibly be depressed in HK if she was still pretty – it’s currency after all!

    3. Perhaps she truly loved him? It was a 5-year relationship, which showed she was committed to him. I don’t know what happened, but it’s always hard to move on after the break up.

  2. She’s still beautiful imo.. Always a fan of her so really glad she’s coming back to TVB! looking forward to this drama!

    1. Yeah, she’s beautiful. Very well maintained for a 39-er.

      1. I think she has suicidal i.e. waxy looking eye sockets – even if her claim of being suicidal is false – I always found those hybrid eye sockets to be very nihilistic looking.

    2. I remember her well from her movie with Stephen Chow where she put on a fake moustache. Since her role there was to seduce, she looks beautiful there.
      @Cleo, what do you mean by nihilistic looking? I did look-up the word, but still don’t understand what it means.

  3. wow, this and the old tactic by TVB putting actors on ice really have me wondering what is UP with HK culture – maybe it’s a just too much Blood Elf, right?

    Is her dad the hybrid or is it her mom?

    I mean you don’t see Anita Miu committing suicide (died of cancer) after her childhood poverty and suffering, you would THINK that she would just be happy to be rich.

  4. I’m not sure how the HK audience will accept all these middle aged has beens who weren’t not even the top fadans during their time. TVB should’ve invited Marianne Chan, Kenix Kwok, Jessica together for a series.

  5. Angie was the third party in Nat Chan’s relationship? Didn’t know that. Can’t imagine it.

  6. Her niece sounds like a supportive sensible girl. And I do think will probably stand to inherit whatever Carmen’s has from the looks of it.

  7. 007!! That’s the movie and omg, she was fantastic in that role. And that’s with a moustache, lol…

  8. If TVB does it right, this could become a successful drama about these women who’ve gone through hardship and emerged a stronger, successful person. That should appeal to HK audience.

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