On screen, Kym Ng is known for her infectious energy and larger-than-life personality. But when the cameras stop rolling, that's when the true Kym comes out. The self-professed introvert famously treasures her privacy — questions about her age are off-limits during interviews and she hardly talks about her family and husband. She also keeps most of her struggles to herself, including her battle with hyperthyroidism back in 2000.

She opened up about her struggle with the illness on a recent episode of Quan Yifeng’s talk show Hear U Out, where she explained why she decided against publicising her condition despite criticism from the public, who thought that her ballooning figure was due to her age, or worse, laziness.

“I had water retention behind one eye so it was protruding from my face,” said Kym. “It looked as though one of my eyes was bigger than the other. I had to take steroids to get rid of the water retention, but taking the medicine came with many side effects, such as buffalo hump (a lump of fat that develops at the top of the back, between the shoulders), moon face (the face developing a rounded appearance), and every part of my body was swollen.”

Kym continued to battle the condition for years. “When I looked through my photo albums, I wondered ‘Is this how I looked?’ I would look into the mirror (and compare how I looked like then and now). My eyes were uneven, my face was swollen and stiff. I realised I used to be quite pretty.”

One of the most hurtful things she experienced during her four-year battle with the illness was when she was approached by a kid in public. “He called out to me and I responded. He said that his mum wanted to tell me something: “You’re getting fatter and fatter.” I replied with, ‘Okay, thank you.’”

While she was struggling to come to terms with the physical changes, she received support from her colleagues at Mediacorp. “[Veteran filmmaker and former TV producer] Man Shu Shum was very nice and didn’t tell me that I couldn’t work just because of how I looked. He continued to let me work, and let me rest at home when I wasn’t working,” Kym let on.

Although her colleagues knew about her condition, she decided against talking about it to the press. And so, Kym never took her medication in public. “I believed that I could overcome this difficult period on my own. I didn’t need others to share their concern for me, and perhaps I took a longer time because [I was largely on my own]. At the same time, I gained confidence because I overcame it and emerged stronger. Of course, I also had my family who gave me a lot of support.”

Watch Part 1 and Part 2 of Kym's interview on Hear U Out.

Photos: Kym Ng's Instagram, The Celebrity Agency's Instagram