Isabella Leong: “Marriage is Not Important”
After giving birth to Richard Li’s son, Ethan, last year, Isabella Leong Lok Chi had a pair of boy twins in June 2010 again. Recent rumors claim that Isabella may marry Richard in August. Dispelling these rumors, Isabella’s representative said, “Isabella is still Ms. Leong. Although not married into the Li family, Isabella is living very happily.”
Hong Kong women have envied the modern Cinderella stories of twenty-seven-year-old, Cathy Tsui Chi Kei, and twenty-two-year-old, Isabella Leong. After Cathy married billionaire heir, Martin Lee, she gave birth to two daughters. In the pursuit of delivering a male heir to the Lee family’s fortune, perhaps Cathy will need to continue to be a baby-making machine. In contrast, despite giving birth to three sons, Isabella still remains unmarried.
Isabella is currently resting in San Francisco , USA after giving birth to twin boys last month. According to tabloid reports, Richard’s father, Li Ka Shing, was extremely grateful towards Isabella for delivering three male heirs and approved of the marriage between Richard and Isabella. Another tabloid report claimed that Mr. Li wanted to fly to San Francisco to visit the twin boys, but had to reschedule due to his work load.
In response to recent marriage rumors, Isabella’s representative said, “Isabella Leong is grateful towards the public’s concern. She will not respond to personal matters.” (Is Ms. Isabella currently married to Richard Li?) “No, she is still Ms. Leong.”
According to Isabella’s friends, she does not have any plans to return to Hong Kong yet. An inside source said, “There are no plans for marriage yet. Isabella is not concerned about a marriage certificate. As long as two people are happy together, that is fine. Since giving birth to three sons, everyone within the Li family are very happy.”
“Over the last three years, many producers wanted to cast Isabella in their films. Since she is busy taking care of her three sons, she will not consider making a comeback to the entertainment industry.”
Source: Tom.com
Jayne: Isabella’s place within the Li family is permanent, whether she marries Richard Li or not. Li Ka Shing undoubtedly is pleased with the three male heirs, but perhaps does not find her to be appropriate marriage material.
Cathy Tsui was with child when she married Martin Lee. If Richard and Isabella had plans to get married, they would have done so much earlier, while she was pregnant with the first son, Ethan. The ultrasound results of the second pregnancy would have showed that she was carrying two boys, so the Li family knew they would soon have three boys. There was more than enough time to plan a wedding, yet they have not done so.
There are no plans for marriage yet. Isabella is not concerned about a marriage certificate. As long as two people are happy together, that is fine. Since giving birth to three sons, everyone within the Li family are very happy.”
I disagree. Even if you don’t care about it, do it for your kids. I still think a marriage certificate will make the family more secure. At least, you are acknowledged and your status is official and your kids will have legally married parents.
“There are no plans for marriage yet. Isabella is not concerned about a marriage certificate.”
This is PR answer. No woman would settle for no marriage certificate unless her aim is just money and she is a gold digger and even a gold digger knows a marriage certificate and children are sure ways to fortune. So he won’t make an honest woman out of her, legitimise his children with her and now she has to stay quiet and we are given crap for answers.
How happy can you be when this billionaire is so close and yet so far?
Why does a grandpa who is ‘extremely grateful’ towards Isabella for delivering three male heirs not want to make grandsons (i.e. heirs) legitimate?
Wao.. they must be in a rush or something. 3 boys in 2 years?
Hey, why would she need to be back in entertainment industry? keep getting pregnant pls.That’s her job now.
nevertheless, she is gorgeous!
I can’t believe she is saying that marriage is not important. I wonder if she is in it for just the money?? Even if she didn’t care for her own status, what about her 3 sons?? I think it is so selfish of her to be thinking that way. I wonder if she ever thinks about others thinking of her sons as illegitimate if she never officially marries Richard?? I personally believe that if you really love and want to be with someone then you would marry them. Otherwise, you can just leave them just like that if you are not legally married.
HeTieShou,
The power is not in her hand. What do you expect her to say? Can she say “I really wanted to marry Ethan, but he doesn’t want to marry me/his father disallow it” to the public?
The power now is in the Li family’s hand. It would do her no good displease the Li family by talking badly about the family in anyway. I agree with Funn. It’s a PR answer.
I agree Kidd. Many seems to forget Li Ka Shing is a very rich man. I am just surprised his son listens to him so much so my guess is Richard Li himself may be the problem.
OR they’re planning a wedding under the radar. I think this will be it. If not look at the implication. She is a kept woman and he may marry someone someday. Ridiculous.
Sorry, made a mistake in the name. Mix up the son’s name with the father’s name.
It should be “I really wanted to marry Richard, but he doesn’t want to marry me” .
Oh yea, sorry forgot about the Li family and how rich they are. I guess money does give you a lot of power…. They can be secretly married or are planning a secretive wedding, who really knows? Celebrities are known to lie a lot to the public so we should not be shocked if that is indeed the case….
Of course, MONEY IS POWER. Knowledge can be bought. But Money… give me money. Whoever says he doesn’t need money, then give me!!
For myself, having children without being in a marriage is okay (its quite common now with celebrity couples — angelina jolie/brad pitt), but I believe that only works when the couple mutually respects each other and they see each other as equals. This just doesn’t seem to be the case here — Richard’s family obvious doesn’t see her as a decent girl and by not marrying her, he’s kind of agreeing with his father.
What’s with favoring sons over daughters? A parent should only be concern with his/her child’s well being (physically and emotionally) and happiness. No offense to anyone but this favoritism has to stop. There are people out there who just want a baby but can’t conceive, you should be thankful for being able to have children. Adoption is another great way to become a parent but some countries have strict laws and it’s extremely hard when you’re a non-celebrity. What’s next? Should be “engineer” our children to be “perfect”? Geez, what ever happened to unconditional love?
Trang, in the Li family’s case, perhaps the quest for sons is to protect the billions in family assets. With a daughter, perhaps some of the wealth will “trickle” out to the in-laws. That’s why marrying another rich spouse is so important because you continue to protect and grow the family’s assets. Perhaps that is what Li Ka Shing wants Richard to do.
I think men want boys because overall, men still relate better with males. They also want to be able to play rough, such as sports, go fishing, play robots, etc. with their son and re-live their childhood. Moms can re-live their childhood with their daughters. Maybe not all parents feel this way, but that is how most of my friends personally feel. Like friends, we yearn for our children to share similar characteristics and past-times.
My mom is of the opinion that it’s not Li Ka Shing who disapprove, but, Richard Li himself doesn’t want to marry her.
Why sons? For asians, sons carry the names of the father, even the one to so call carry the what’s that thing called in the funeral of the father. Daughters are married off, sons stay back. Daughters take the name of the husbands, their children takes the name of the husbands, name of a son’s son will remain the same name. And being so darn rich and traditional in thinking, I am not surprised at the quest for sons. Not to say they don’t appreciate daughters.
But Jayne, Sons are usually close to mothers, daughters close to fathers. That I believe is a fact.
Funn, it’s not a fact. I’m not close to my father, and most of my gal pals are closer to their mothers.
Funn I think most girls are close to their mums and men close to their dads since they can relate to each other as they grow. Would you really tell your dad about your boyfriend troubles, for example?
Anyway it’s funny how Asian culture favour the son so much. I mean, I understand the practical reasons why but the fact is once a man is married he tends to belong to his wife. Even when a daughter is married off she will always return to her parents. Hence women are better at dividing their attentions then men are.
Trust me, a daughter is far more likey to care for her parents in their old age than a son is.
Asian tradition/culture dictates that a woman follow her husband, while it is the son’s duty to take care of the parents. If the son in-law want to migrate, the daughter has to follow him. How can she care for the parents then? Also, sons carry on the family name and take care of the ancestors tablets. A daughter’s children belongs to the in-laws family while the son’s daughter belongs to your family. You can’t expect the daughter to bring the ancestors tablet to the in-law’s place.
That’s why Asian culture favours son. Doesn’t matter that daughters are more attach to family, their different duty and gender role give them a disadvantage in this issue.
Culture is something that passed down from long time ago. In the olden days, it was more practical and crucial to have a son since daughters marry off and in the olden days, she can’t even go back to her maiden home whenever she likes like now.
Situation might have changed now, but, mindset and tradition still stuck. And even now, children still follow father’s surname. Daughters still cannot pass down family name.
I have only one sister with me and I always worry, will I be able to take care of my parents after I get married. So, marrying to some place far will be off the list for me. It’s not my parents idea, but, my personal thought. My parents just want me to get married. :p
Funn, I agree with others. It’s not a fact. Many girls are more close with mothers.
@Rowena,
What you said is true to an extent but not all daughters and sons are like what you said. It really varies from person to person. I know some sons that are closer to their moms than their dads and some daughters that are closer to their dads than their mom. A lot of times it is the sons that cares for their parents and sometimes it is the daughter. Basically, it just varies depending on the person.
@Kidd,
What you said is so true and my parents are the same way. I have 7 brothers and all, but I worry if they will take care of my mom(my dad has passed away) when I am not around. I know that it will be harder for me to care for my mom if I ever get married. Tradition is always going to be stuck to asian families, therefore, they will always favor sons over daughters.I had to grow up with that being the only girl in my family. That is why the 1 child policy favoring sons has caused the gender imbalance in China these days.
@Funn,
I don’t think it is always true that sons are close to the mom and the daughters close to the fathers. That is true in some cases, but is definately not always true and is far from the fact. Once again, it varies from person to person. In my case, I am closer to my mom but was close to my dad as well.
@HeTieShou
Wow, you have 7 brothers? I thought in this situation, the daughter will be ‘pearl in the palm’ since she’s so rare?
Mom my related to me a case with her friend. The friend’s in-laws family always have sons. The grandma so wanted a granddaughter that she set aside a sum of money that whichever daughter in-law can give her a granddaughter, she will give the money to her and the baby. She even knitted baby girls clothes for her yet-to be-born granddaughter. Too bad. The last I heard, that friend also have no daughters, only sons. It’s refreshing to hear accounts like this where a female child is greatly desired. 😀
@Kidd,
Yea, I have 7 brothers(6 older and 1 younger ) and I don’t understand why everyone thinks that I would be the “pearl in the palm”?? I don’t know about other families since that doesn’t happen often, but that is not how it is in my family. My parents are really sexist and traditional and favor boys over girls.They treat me like a maid and I have serve my brothers like kings. My younger brother(who is the youngest) is treated like a prince though.
It’s funny how you mentioned about a family wanting granddaughters! I can tell you that in my family right now, I only have nephews and no neices at all. Therefore, my mom has only grandsons and since she is really sexist and traditional, she does not mind not having a granddaughter. In fact when she heard that my brother’s wife wanted a girl, she was not that happy. However, in the end she gave birth to another boy so my mom was really happy in the end… She just loves having boys…
HeTieShou, I am sorry to hear about the state of mind of your parents and family. Don’t let them discourage you on the state of things. You’re all right; a daughter will take care of her family, sons will not. But there are good sons, up until they marry someone horrible that is. I am sure your mother loves you in her own way. She is who she is because of her mother and her mother because of her mother. You can break that cycle; when you do have children, treat them equally even if you don’t love them equally.
Asians likes boys, true, especially Chinese. Because of this archaic belief that boys carry the surnames, that boys will be the one to lead the funeral procession and I always find it disturbing that say a man has no son and he dies, some ai-yah son will be leading the procession whilst the grieving real daughters do not.
My mother grew up in an environment akin to yours, except her mother never loved her and bullied her for unknown reason, not because she was a daughter but because she was just I suppose, there. That sort of action ripped a family apart and all siblings quarrel and not united at all. My father’s family is so united, we his children are left out. Quite a contrast.
My family, siblings are close. Which is why I can never understand feuding siblings because I am close to my siblings.
HeTieShou, how old are you? Once you’ve your own job, when you’re an adult, if you’re still young and studying a this moment, once you’re that you should really consider telling those younger brothers who treats you like a maid to just eff off. You’re the big sister; you have every right to teach them manners. If you parents can’t do it, well you do it. Your older brothers I have no comments. They’re older so by right must be respected. But respect has a limit and it is earned. Don’t let these sexist archaic thinkings get you down. You’re better than all of them.
What world are we living in to have such thinkings… I can’t imagine if one of the sons say “Mom, dad, I am gay!” what will happen?
One more moot point; I always wonder if your parents favour one child over you, treats you like you’re worth nothing for whatever reason, I always thought if that favoured child refused to take care of that parents, of course as a child you’re duty bound to take care of them. BUT not before moving out, finding your own identity, packing their clothes and move them to their favourite child’s place and only when all else fails, you take them in. I know respect thy parents, no matter what, but at some point, at least momentarily, one must live for oneself. I am not saying take the western idea of you know they take care of themselves, I take care of myself but some years in your life must be devoted to yourself before you finally go home and devote to them.
My family came from a very poor, rural village in Guangdong. Many generations of my family preferred males because they were more physically capable of hard farming labor. With the little money that my mom’s family had, her parents dedicated all the money to send her brother to school. My mom and her sisters only had an elementary school education as a result.
In the past and present villages, boys were preferred over girls because of economic praticality. For the poor masses, boys possessed more strength to work the farm and stay with the family. My mother’s parents farmed until they were in their 60s; this was all manual labor and lots of squatting and back-breaking work without big machinery in the old days. My mom and her sisters married to other remote villages and could not assist their parents with farming. Without my uncle’s help, my grandparents would have to farmed much harder. I’m not sure what the policies are these days, but back then everyone had a quota to meet. My mom even farmed until she was 7 months pregnant and due to the hard labor, I was born early. My family visited our home village two years ago and some elderly people in their 60s still had to farm because their younger children were no longer by their side.
With the rise of economic wealth in select urban Chinese cities, some families are amassing great wealth, which they want to preserve in their family’s name. As a result, the families still prefer boys to carry the families’ name and inherit the wealth, where the girls would take the wealth and bring into her married family.
From what I see with friends’ families, Chinese boys are not expected to do a lot of domestic chores. If there are only boys in the family, the mother tends to do all the cooking and most of the cleaning. If there is a mix of female and male children, then the girls usually help out more with the chores. Disregarding ethnicity, I think women in general do more domestic chores than men. Perhaps this is from their mothers’ influence. Personally I think women have more patience for domestic chores and the attentiveness to do a better job. But that doesn’t mean that the guys should not do their share of chores.
HeTieShou, I agree with Funn’s comment. When you are older and can afford your own financial independence, it would be great to have some time on your own.
@Funn,
Thanks for your great comments and for your encouragement. You are right about my mom being the way she is. My grandma was always really sexist as well. The thing was, in my mom’s family, she only had 1 brother and the rest were girls. The good thing was, she actually had sisters and her brother was nice to her. Some of my brothers are ok to me too, but some not really… My brothers and I aren’t that close, but some of them stand up for me when necessary while sadly some of them don’t. Especially my 3rd brother after he married a wife that I don’t really like. They always gain up on me and say bad things about me. I just hope that my other brothers will not become that way after they get married. It is sad that some of them change for the worse after they get married. Luckily my 4th brother somewhat changed for the better and stands up for me. I wonder if it is because I actually like his wife??
I have told my mom on many occasions that if I ever have my own kids that I will treat them equally… But she doesn’t care since it will not be her responsibility. However, she always tells me that I had better have a son or else my future mother in law will not like me at all.
I am sad to say that I am 31 now but am struggling with my career. The thing is, I want to be an English teacher and have gotten my masters degree in 2008 and want to go and teach abroad. However, I have been struggling with my family for years now and it is killing me. But you are right, I need to live for myself and am sick of them trying to control my life. My mom always plays the guilt trick on me too. She says that she will die if anything happened to me… Yea right.. I don’t think it is because she cares for me. She thinks that if I got raped(that is like her biggest fear ever) then she will be disgraced and our family will lose face. Face just means so much to her… Basically, I am struggling to leave and go overseas to fulfill my dream and start my career, however, so many obstacles have been in my way. I am hoping to break through them all because in the end, it is my life…. I am lucky that most of my brothers support me on it, but some of them are so highly against it like my mom. THey always try to discourage me and say really mean things…. I try not to care but I can’t deny that it does affect me.
I only have 1 younger brother by the way. All of my other brothers are all older than me. A lot of them don’t live with us anymore, but come home and I need to serve them when they do. Luckily, they are pretty nice about it unlike my mom.
However, my traditional mom says that if I ever get married then I will have to take care of my husband and his parents. Then she will not really expect me to take care of her and my brothers as much anymore. How traditional can she be? I can say that my brother’s wife don’t give a care about our family at all. My mom’s says that they will suffer and be punished because of that…Gosh, I wonder how true that is..
I can’t wait to get a job, go overseas and fulfill my dream… There are big obstacles for me but I just have to live for myself… Thanks Jayne and Funn for your encouragement and support! I really appreciate it!
@HeTieShou
Have you made any progress since you last talk about your career problem in spcnet or are you stuck at the same stage? I do feel bad for you. Some parents are really good at emotional blackmail. Is it possible for you to make small steps like move out to some place near your home first before you go straight ahead overseas?
Anyway, I do believe that your mom’s fear is not totally because of face. Being rape is one of the worst thing that could happen to a woman. I do believe that your mom’s fear partly comes from her love for you.
I’ve watched a documentary years ago (it’s a series of documentaries that retold stories that happen in real life as warning to others no to repeat the protagonist’s mistake). There’s a couple who was very sexist. They have 2 sons and 1 daughter, but, they were always more favorable to their sons and treated them better than their daughter. The daughter won a trophy and her brother want to play with it. She refused and her mom scolded her and took her trophy to give it to her brother who went on to play with the trophy roughly. Another time, they ate out at a fast food restaurant. Because the table was made for 4 only, the parents and 2 sons sit together while the daughter has to sit at the next table. The mother was so irritating. She was so bias that she purposely sought out the smallest piece of chicken for her daughter. Then, one day, the mom asked the daughter to buy something for her (she initially wanted to ask son, but the son pretended to be busy studying. So, she asked the daughter who was busy doing something). You can see her life in the home when she slipped and drop the floor she bought. She was so scared that she cried. The shopkeeper took pity on her and gave her a new packet of floor without charging. But, the daughter didn’t reach home. Police later came to the couples’ and told them that their daughter was killed on her way home. The mother broke down and cried really sadly.
So, most parents, however sexist they are will still love their daughters.
” Luckily my 4th brother somewhat changed for the better and stands up for me. I wonder if it is because I actually like his wife??”
This is most probably true. 😀
Put yourself in your brother’s shoes. If one day you married and 1 brother likes your husband while the other doesn’t. Which brother will you have more good feelings toward?
@ Kidd,
Thanks for your concern. Don’t even mention spcnet… Many people there really irritate me and don’t know me at all but judge me. Gosh, I vow to never come back again. I was in the middle of trying to progress but then my mom got really sick and had to go to the hospital for nearly 2 weeks. Therefore, I had to be around to take care of her. Luckily, she is better now so I can get back on track but have other little things to do first. I only have 1 parent left so I have to take care of her while I am still here. Filial piety needs to come first even before career.
The thing is, my mom is VERY paranoid and thinks all guys are pigs. She has to realize that there are good guys in this world too. Many of my friends studied abroad and worked abroad and nothing happened to them. I think it is partly fate too.The thing if people are scared of this and that, then might as well lock ourselves somewhere and never come out. Luckily, my mom is religious and believes in fate and all. I had a talk with a monk and he helped convince my mom to let me go… BUt I have to leave her one day and she knows that.
That story is so sad…I think it is sad that people don’t know how to value someone when they are still around. My mom plays favorites too. My oldest brother is often neglected and treated badly by my mom too. SInce there are many kids in our family, it is hard for her love us all equally.
I think you are right. Of course I would have better feelings toward the brother that like my husband more. It makes sense…
@HeTieShou
Glad to know that you are making progress and you have help from someone to convince your mom. 🙂
Best of luck to you.
I agree that filial piety need to come first. You have only one parent left, so, I can see why you cherish your mom so much. 🙂