Thanks to his Comedy Nite creations Liang Popo and Liang Ximei and his blockbuster movies like Ah Boys To Men (ABTM), Money No Enough and I Not Stupid, Jack Neo, 62, is undoubtedly one of Singapore’s most iconic entertainers.

However, having invested so much time into his career, something from the director's personal life had to give. In this week’s episode of Hear U Out, Jack admitted that he hasn’t always been there for his children because of work.

Jack has been married to Irene Kng since 1988 and they have three sons and one daughter – Ethel, 29, Regent, 27, Ritz, 22, and Raffles, 17.

Jack with his family

When host Quan Yifeng asked Jack if he had any regrets throughout his illustrious career, the filmmaker paused before saying, “Regrets? Of course I have them. Sometimes, when I look at my kids and see that they’re all grown up, I feel that I had forgotten to spend more time with them. The other day, I was talking to my kids and they said to me, ‘We think you have very little time for us.’”

“I thought about it for a while before realising that it was true," Jack added.

A screengrab of a clip of Jack with his second son Ritz from when the latter was still a baby

The interview then cut to an old clip of Jack carrying Ritz as a baby, and saying to the camera, “When you were a baby, you liked it when daddy carried you like this. You enjoyed it a lot.”

It seems Jack's kids — or at least, Ethel — don't bear any grudges against the director for missing most of their childhood.

Ethel is the only one of Jack’s children with a public Instagram account, and she posted a pic of herself with her dad last Father's Day.

She wrote, “To the most loving, protective and comedic dad. I’m so blessed to be able to call you my dad. I say this because I know anything that matters to me matters even more to you. Thank you for always having my back. I will always be a daddy’s girl. love you 5eva (sic)”.

Photos: Ethel Neo/Instagram, Mediacorp