Rui En Says Her Dad Is Enjoying The Attention After She Became More Open About Him On Social Media

Before August 5 this year, Rui En, 40, was one of the very few local artistes who didn’t have a public Instagram account. The fiercely private — or at least, she used to be — actress was once “vehemently against the idea of having social media” and “swore [she] would never start it for the sake of privacy”.

Well, the tables have definitely turned for the star, whose latest drama The Heartland Hero is now available on meWATCH.

Not only is she finally on the platform (it’s @wilderseas29, for anyone who doesn’t know yet), she admitted to 8days.sg that she’s “quite” addicted to checking her feed. Fans have even told her that she’s “posting too many Stories”.

“It’s kinda gotten to a point where I have to say to myself, ‘Okay, I need to control this, otherwise it would be very hard to switch off and go to bed,’” she chuckled. “I just take it as something that I haven’t really had the chance to experience before. I’m pretty sure the novelty is gonna wear off, but for now, I’m still having fun.”

Rui En added that she was never this addicted to Instagram with the private account — yup, she had one — that she used to “stalk people”, mainly her favourite Hollywood celebrities, stylists, and pastors. She has since stopped using it to focus more on managing @wilderseas29.

“That old account was more like a channel for me to get updates on the foreign stars that I like and the people who inspire me, and then it slowly became like, ‘Eh? Actually I can try it too,’” she explained. “So that was really how I eased myself into the idea of starting Instagram.”

As Rui En mentioned in her inaugural post, something that pushed her to get on IG was the realisation that she might regret “having a platform but not using it to help others”.

“I needed to change the way I was doing things and stop being so damn private ‘cos I’ve worked so hard,” she elaborated during our chat. “This sort of fame and status has afforded me a platform, and if I didn’t use it for whatever silly reason like I’m too late to it or I’m not gonna get enough followers — which were floated to me previously — then I would look back and be like, ‘Well, I just acted and that’s it.’ And that wasn’t enough for me at all.”

She continued, “I’ve gone through some pretty dark times and even though it was slightly uncomfortable in the beginning, I knew that if I could open up about my struggles, it would be able to help some people and let them know that they’re not the only ones, ‘cos I understand what it’s like to feel alone and it’s a terrible place to be.”

8 DAYS: Welcome to Instagram! How are you liking it so far?

RUI EN: Thank you! It’s a lot of fun. I tend to be a very worst-case-scenario kind of person, so before I started, I wanted to be really prepared for all the darkest parts of social media like the trolling and other kinds of very serious issues, and then I joined and I was like, “Oh. It’s not that bad… yet!” (Laughs) But yeah, it’s actually been a lot of fun and I felt so welcomed.

Have you gotten any weird or inappropriate comments or DMs yet?

So far, no. I’m not ruling out that possibility, but like I said, everything has been very positive. I don’t have unrealistic expectations that it’s gonna continue being that way, but it’s actually been okay.

You mentioned that losing your cat, your dad’s heart attack, and the pandemic sort of pushed you to open an IG account. Do you think you would’ve still done so if those never happened?

It’s hard for me to answer this question ‘cos I’m not sure, to be very honest. But I would say that, as an entertainer, I feel a responsibility to entertain with whatever method is available.

When COVID hit, I started turning to movies on Netflix and I was just so grateful that I could forget about this very scary situation in the world for an hour and a half. That’s the main thing that made me feel like, even though I could go on social media and post really silly content like IGTV cooking videos that I won’t win any Nobel Prizes for, if that could distract people for a few minutes, then my goal is accomplished.

It doesn’t always have to be very cheem (profound) or deep — I know Angelina Jolie just joined and hers is very cheem. (Laughs) But personally for me, cat pictures and cat videos are my guilty obsession, and you know, I have three cats, so if I can just use my platform for that, then that’s enough for me.

When I read the script and saw my cat’s name, I thought this must be God’s will. (Laughs) But the name Momo is part of my character’s old persona, which she lets go of after coming out of jail and starts using her original name.

You also started sharing more about your dad through your fanclub RBKD. What did he think of all the new attention on himself?

Oh, he’s actually enjoying it leh. (Chuckles) One day, he was like, “Eh, you are so popular ah! I got these messages from all over the world asking me about my health situation.” ‘Cos friends from different parts of the word would text him to ask if he’s all right.

He’s actually really okay with it ‘cos the thing I always do before I post something about him is to ask his permission out of basic respect, and he’s always like, “Yes, please share about it. Share how good God has been to me and how I survived this really scary heart attack.” He’s quite enjoying it, I must say.

What made you decide to leave Artiste Networks after 20 years with them?

I think I mostly dealt with that in my first post and I don’t have anymore to add to it. I will say that even though it’s been a very scary prospect having to handle things I’ve never had to handle before, I’ve found that facing that fear and just pushing through it has been very empowering and given me a very different kind of confidence ‘cos things I thought I can’t do, I can.

Are there plans to join another management agency?

No, I’m managing myself for now as a free agent. For now there are no plans and I’m just gonna keep plugging along and see what comes up.

You filmed a few scenes with Shane Pow for The Heartland Hero before he was replaced by James Seah following Shane’s drink driving charge. Did you speak to him after the incident?

I did speak to him and encourage him ‘cos I understand what it’s like to be a public figure and be under immense pressure. It’s not a great place to be so I felt like I needed to tell him to just keep going and not be discouraged. I haven’t been in touch with him recently, but I wish him all the best.

The Heartland Hero is now available on demand for free on meWATCH.
It airs weekdays at 7.30pm on Ch 8 from Sep 1.

Photos: Rui En/Instagram, RBKD/Instagram, Mediacorp