Fann Wong exhausted from baby Zed’s protracted illness

SINGAPORE — Fann Wong is quite possibly the only mother on earth who can still look put-together even when she has caught a bug from her child — and just to go on radio, not on screen.

Wong, whose current projects include acting in a drama in China alongside husband Christopher Lee, was nursing a slight cold when she made a guest appearance yesterday on Mandarin radio station Mediacorp Love 97.2 FM’s morning show, hosted by Dennis Chew, Mark Lee, Marcus Chin and Chen Biyu. She was the first guest on the show’s new Wednesday segment, The Bitter Times, which invites well-known personalities to share stories about how they overcame hardships.

It was the first time in over two years that she was appearing on radio, shared Wong, who agreed to be on the show as a favour to old friend Chew without knowing that the segment was called The Bitter Times.

“When I found out, I said, ‘Am I that bitter?’” she laughed. “Later, I thought, that’s good too, because many people think being an artiste is all glamour, but everyone goes through tough times, including artistes.”

On the programme, she talked about the trials of her early days as a model, filming for long hours overseas and Lee’s six-week jail term in 2006.

But none of those bitter times compares with watching her one-and-a-half-year-old son, Zed, endure illness. During the Chinese New Year period, she shared, Zed was in the hospital with stomach flu. And during the last few days, he had been running a 40-degree fever. “So, recently, I’ve just been busy with Zed,” Wong said. “I’m exhausted because we have to give him sponge baths at night and check his temperature every hour. And he doesn’t sleep well because he wakes up and cries every hour.”

But, she said, “Babies have the toughest time when they are ill — the heartbreak we feel is nothing compared to what they go through. He isn’t well but can’t tell us where it hurts.”

In comparison with the bitter times of her youth and career, she said, “As a mother, the most bitter time is seeing your child down with a high fever. I now understand a mother’s heart. I can understand completely why my mother would always call me to make sure I was safe whenever I went overseas.”

But motherhood is “a happy trial”, she added. “As long as I see my son well and smiling, I feel I’m very fortunate.”

As for how she counters pesky questions about when she’s going to have a second child, she said: “My husband keeps saying he wants a second child too, but it’s not that easy! We waited so long for the first one. So, hopefully, we’ll be blessed with a second one. That’s the only response I have! I can’t possibly give birth just for you! I am continuing to take Chinese medicines. We are trying, but since we are often in different countries, there’s only so much we can do.”