Fiona Xie Broke Up With Her Ex-Fiancé 'Cos She Was Too Devastated By Her Grandma's Death

Fiona Xie shocked the nation in 2009 when she quit showbiz at the peak of her career. She would later reveal that her then-fiancé didn’t want her to continue being an actress and had plans for them to leave the country. And so the hopelessly romantic Fiona packed her bags and took a leap of faith. Little did she know that they would end up breaking up.

The 38-year-old revealed the reason behind their split on this week’s episode of Quan Yifeng’s talk show, Hear U Out.

She first talked about her outlook on love and why she's always willing to give everything up for the one she loves.

“I grew up without my dad in my life, and that is perhaps the reason I’ve always wanted to be loved, Fiona said with tears brimming in her eyes. I never wanted to experience another person leaving me after my dad walked out of my life. That’s why I’ve sacrificed everything for love, because I wanted to be happy while loving someone and being loved in return.”

She continued: “People put me on a pedestal and they think that all men want me, but men still end up leaving me. I’ve always loved the song ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ because my dad would play it on the guitar. It’s about someone taking a plane and leaving the one they love behind. Somehow, every romance has ended up like the lyrics of the song — we love each other so passionately but we can't stay together and someone ends up leaving the country. They all end up leaving, just like my dad did.”

It was only when she met her ex-fiancé did she think she would finally get her happily ever after. However, reality came crashing down on her after she moved to Hongkong with him. According to Yifeng, Fiona led the tai tai life when she was living in Hongkong, where she indulged in retail therapy every day while flanked by bodyguards.

“I thought I would be happy being able to go shopping every day,” she said. “But once I got there, I felt empty because I had no aim in life. I even felt a little lost. I was so used to getting my schedule from an AP every day and having everything planned out. Not knowing what to do was very boring. I felt like I was trapped in a gilded cage.”

She and her fiance would later move to New York together, but the turning point in her life came when she had to return to Singapore to be by her ailing grandmother’s side.

“She was diagnosed with lung cancer and only had a month to live, Fiona said. I was with her 24/7. She had to sit up all the time. Watching her take her last breath is something I can never forget. I couldn’t go back to the US and I just left my luggage and everything that I had there. [The entire experience] changed me.”

After her grandmother’s death, Fiona shut herself off from the entire world and she ended up breaking up with her fiancé because he didn’t know how to break down the walls that she built around herself.

“He’s a really great guy and I love him a lot, but the way we communicate and think are very different. I was in the wrong because I shut myself away. I didn’t even open the door for him when we broke up.”

Click here to watch Part 2 of Fiona's interview on Hear U Out.

Photos: Mediacorp, Fiona Xie's Instagram