Family Dispute Surfaced at Frances Si Ming’s Funeral

The memorial service for the late actress Frances Si Ming ((施明), held on April 22, took an unexpected turn as the occasion inadvertently exposed a family feud between her sons Augustine Lee (李泳漢) and Gregory Lee (李泳豪), with ex-husband and veteran actor Lee Ka Ding (李家鼎) drawn into the dispute.

Augustine Lee who single-handedly handled the funeral arrangements disclosed that Gregory’s wife Agnes Lam (林妤謙) was not invited to the funeral. Augustine claimed that Agnes did not respect Frances and did not invite her to Gregory and Agnes’ wedding. Although Augustine was publicly criticized by his father, Lee Ka Ding, Augustine is adamant that he will not compromise his mother’s final wishes and implied that Lee Ka Ding was being manipulated.

In response to Augustine’s statement, Lee Ka Ding accused Augustine, including that Frances did not dislike Agnes and provided photos of the two as evidence. Lee Ka Ding also threatened to skip the post-funeral meal after the ceremony to express his dissatisfaction with Augustine.

Augustine Responded Again

Faced with Lee Ka Ding’s accusation, Augustine went public on the eve of France’s funeral and revealed, “After I informed Lee Ka Ding and Gregory of the funeral date, they completely ignored my messages and did not ask anything related to the funeral. They kept spreading false rumors about me.”

Augustine continued, “Lee Ka Ding is already 80 years old, and I am his son. How can he spout all these so-called ‘facts’? Why is he still targeting me when the memorial service is happening tomorrow? It’s obvious that they wanted to clear Agnes’ name so she can attend the funeral service legitimately.”

When asked to confirm that Lee Ka Ding will be coming to the post-funeral meal, Augustine replied, “This is France’s service and attending the meal is a final show of respect. If they care, they will attend.”

Augustine also disputed Lee Ka Ding’s photo evidence and explained that Frances didn’t dislike Agnes initially. However, Augustine claimed that Agnes showed her “true colors” within a few months of dating, “Within three months, she tore the family apart in three months. She even made an ultimatum with my mother and said, ‘Your son is with me now. He will listen to everything I say. I don’t like living with you, even if we live next door.’ Gregory cut off contact with us after that.”

Augustine Claimed Frances and Agnes’ Photo Was Staged

Augustine continued, “A month later, on Gregory and my birthday, Lee Ka Ding suddenly contacted Frances and wanted to meet up for dinner with our relatives. Frances found it strange to have a dinner together after not keeping in touch for so long, but she saw through him. He wanted to use the opportunity to take ‘heartwarming’ photos to sell to the media. Since this had happened many times before, my mother made it clear that there will be no photos at the dinner. However, the woman grabbed Gregory and put her arm around Frances. She told everyone to hurry up and take photos. My mother pushed them away. Everyone who was present saw it.”

Augustine also refuted Lee Ka Ding’s claimed that he covered Augustine’s wedding expense years ago, paid Augustine a monthly household allowance of $50,000 Hong Kong Dollars, supported Augustine’s family for seven or eight years and paid for his grandchildren’s school tuition fee.

Augustine clarified, “That is absolutely not true. I never asked Lee Ka Ding to pay for my wedding. Even when I worked at his private kitchen, I started from the bottom. The company paid my salary of about $15,000 HKD per month. To save money, I took the bus every day.”