Believe it or not, this pretty star never envisioned herself becoming an actress when she was younger.
In fact, Rebecca Lim revealed to AsiaOne that her childhood ambition was to become a doctor. However, destiny had a different path for her and she ended up pursuing a degree in accountancy at Singapore Management University instead.
The 29-year-old first dabbled in acting during her university days, working part-time in local shows and then signing on full-time after completing her degree.
“My childhood dream was to actually be a doctor and that was my dream since I was eight. But things happen, and so here I am as an actor and I really enjoy my job,” she said on the sidelines of SK-II’s “Change Destiny” launch today (June 21) at One Raffles Place.
AsiaOne, SK-II Handout
And although her dream of becoming a doctor might be a thing of the past, the SK-II Singapore ambassador has made way for new aspirations in her life.
For instance, one of the things on Rebecca’s bucket list is to travel the world. She mentioned Greece as a destination that she would like to travel to one day.
“A lot of my friends went there for their honeymoon. It’s somewhere romantic. It’s good for couples to go together. It’s not somewhere to go with your entire family,” she said.
When asked what does she look for in a partner, she said “communication and mutual respect. To me, that’s very important.”
Rebecca also mentioned that she hopes to have one child and a dog with someone she has a connection with.
“I used to have a type, but now I think it’s more of connection.
“I used to want four children. But now I think the lesser, the better. So, one kid and a dog,” she pointed out.
With that being said, Rebecca has recently been entertaining the thought of freezing her eggs.
“I mean why not? There’s no harm trying. I’m not very sure what the technology is like right now, but there’s no harm in trying,” she explained.
And then with a laugh, added: “I’m not getting married anytime soon so I think it might be necessary.”
In keeping with not doing anything, anytime soon, we cheekily asked her about her retirement age.
With a big laugh, she said: “I wouldn’t say an age, hopefully the sooner, the better. The most important thing is to retire with people that I love. To retire alone, that’s a sad thing.”
She agreed with us that being financially secure is important “but you don’t have to live on a very extravagant lifestyle, something comfortable to me, that’s enough”.
Early this year, Rebecca had posted on social media about her retirement but it a turned out to be a publicity stunt that didn’t go down very well.
She shared her thoughts on the impact of social media: “I think it really is a two-edged sword. There are ups and downs of social media. If you keep posting positive messages on social media, a lot of people hide behind their keyboards and they take the opportunity to be keyboard warriors and I think that’s a very irresponsible thing to do.
“Because what I realised is that the trend is people don’t celebrate that much of you if there are happy moments to celebrate. But people take the opportunity to bash you when you’re down and I think that’s a very unhealthy mindset in the world today.
“I hope that changes. It’s not going to change overnight but I think that as long as we are aware of it and we are more responsible – I think that’s very important,” she said mindfully.
At the “Change Destiny” launch today, children sat with adults asking them “what would you like to be when you grow up?” These dreams were then printed out and placed in individual travel coffee mugs for visitors to take home.
The campaign hopes to encourage and inspire adults to reconnect with their forgotten dreams, after a survey by SK-II revealed that many women had not fulfilled their childhood ambitions.
And Rebecca had this advice for all who penned their dreams: “I am far from being a child, but I still have dreams of my own and I constantly work towards it. You can’t expect results if you just dream. It happens with lots of hard work, with a group of people that surround you and love you and will help to propel you to the next level”
“People who are supportive, who won’t bring you down, but at the same time, are willing to tell you things that you are not willing to hear but you need to hear. I think that’s quite important. And if you continue believing in that and work hard towards it, I really believe that dreams can become reality.”
mldas@sph.com.sg
