When her unborn daughter died in her womb, Mrs Chow Yun Fat did not cry. Not because she wasn’t devastated, but rather, she was too shell-shocked.

In an exclusive interview with Hong Kong’s Apple Daily, superstar Chow Yun Fat’s wife Jasmine Tan talks about her painful memories from 1991.

The Singaporean has been married to the iconic Hong Kong actor for 31 years and the couple are known to keep a low-key lifestyle outside of showbiz.

In the first part of a 15-episode interview with Apple Daily titled “My Husband is Chow Yun Fat”, Tan talks about her pregnancy five years into their marriage in 1986.

She revealed that they were both elated when they found out that she was expecting and Chow had even announced the news to the media – but a twist of fate led them on a different path instead.

When Tan was nine months into her pregnancy, her unborn baby died due to strangulation from the umbilical cord. Her doctor advised her to remove the baby by caesarian, but Tan refused to and eventually chose to deliver the stillborn.

“I said no matter what, I still want to go through it [giving birth naturally]. After all, I’ve already carried my baby for nine months,” Tan recalled.

Chow had instructed the nurses to carry the baby away immediately as he did not want his wife to have to go through another painful episode. However, Tan managed to catch a glimpse of the corpse before they took it away.

THAT FATEFUL DAY

In the tearful interview, Tan said: “I still think about her today. This experience is indeed… unimaginable.”

A day before she found out her baby had died, Tan said she was telling Chow that their daughter was being good and did not kick or move around in her womb. She found this odd and consulted her gynaecologist the next morning.

Till today, she still remembers details from the fateful day: “It was raining so heavily the next morning when I went to see my doctor at Mongkok that the rainwater reached my knees.”

At the clinic, the doctor did not reveal any details and told her to go to the hospital immediately.

“I looked at the doctor and realised that something was not right. But it never occurred to me that it would be this bad,” said Tan, who added that Chow took her to the hospital immediately after the consultation.

“WHY ME?”

When she knew her baby girl had died prematurely, Tan said she was not able to cry.

“I didn’t know what to do or think. I didn’t cry. All I could think about was ‘Why me? Why must this happen to me?'”, revealed Tan.

Tan said Chow was also devastated and accompanied her every day. It took the couple seven years to try to overcome the trauma.

“My daughter has died. The love that I have [for her] is something I’m not able to give her anymore. But it is something that I can give to others,” said Tan.

Ever since the incident, the couple have been helping out the needy. They have also committed 99 per cent of their assets and belongings to charity.

The two decided not to have any children after, as Chow did not want his wife to suffer from any complications. Though childless, the couple are known to have a loving marriage.

The Apple Daily interview can be found here.

klim@sph.com.sg