logo
'I cry every day, I laugh every day': Singer Kit Chan on coping with her mum's death

'I cry every day, I laugh every day': Singer Kit Chan on coping with her mum's death

New Paper19-06-2025
Home-grown singer-actress Kit Chan is coping with the loss of her mother, who died in May.
The 52-year-old told Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao in January that her mother suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
"It's been exactly a month since I lost my mum," Chan wrote in English on social media on June 12.
"I'm grateful for the chance to be in a foreign city, where I can be away from the all-too-familiar, with a book and coffee, watching the world go by, while all those feelings and emotions we know and do not know intermingle within us, and settle like all things do."
Chan uploaded a photo of the book she is reading, Pinang: No More Than Skins (2014), by Chinese author Cai Chongda.
"Friends ask me how I'm doing. I say I cry every day, but I also laugh every day," she wrote.
"I think this is a good answer, and a good way to live. It would be how my mum would want me to live, just like she did. Always looking for that bright spot, catching the sparkle in the dull and mundane, and always choosing joy over sorrow."
The star said she will be busy in July and August and is looking forward to it. She will be performing Here We Are, the theme song for the 2025 National Day Parade, with local singer Charlie Lim as well as vocal group The Island Voices.
"Now is a time to be still, and there will be a time to be active," she added.
She said ever since she wrote and recorded the song A Time For Everything, released in 2018, the title has been her mantra.
"It really sums up life for me," she said. "It is a privilege to live a full life, and that means accepting and embracing all of it - the joys and sorrows, the gains and losses, the pleasure and the pain, and of course, the processes of living and dying."
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Mediacorp celebrates SG60 with exciting events and programmes including a concert featuring Kit Chan and Taufik Batisah
Mediacorp celebrates SG60 with exciting events and programmes including a concert featuring Kit Chan and Taufik Batisah

CNA

time14 hours ago

  • CNA

Mediacorp celebrates SG60 with exciting events and programmes including a concert featuring Kit Chan and Taufik Batisah

Mediacorp is celebrating Singapore's birthday with a vibrant lineup of events, programmes and initiatives that reflect who we are, where we've come from and where we're headed. One of the highlights is the Gardens by the Bay and Mediacorp National Day concert happening on Sunday (Aug 3) at The Meadow from 4.30pm. Concertgoers can expect a fun, family-friendly evening packed with carnival activities, dazzling fireworks and performances by Singapore's beloved local artistes, including Kit Chan, Taufik Batisah, Hady Mirza and Yung Raja. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mediacorp (@mediacorp) If you can't make it in person, catch the concert on Aug 16 at 7.30pm on mewatch, Mediacorp Entertainment on YouTube and Channel 5. The celebration continues through Mediacorp's SG60 content slate, spotlighting stories that honour our resilience, heritage and growing identity. One such programme is the heartwarming English documentary series On The Red Dot: Museum of U & Me, featuring hosts Gurmit Singh and Oon Shu An as they explore personal stories behind everyday objects found in Singapore homes. Another is the CNA docuseries Shaping Tomorrow, which showcases local brands shaping Singapore's future. Sports fans can catch two world-class events airing on mewatch and Channel 5. First up, the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025, which runs until Aug 3. Then, there's the Toyota World Para Swimming Championships – Singapore 2025, which takes place from Sep 21 to 27 and will feature over 600 top para swimmers from more than 60 nations, including our very own world champion, Yip Pin Xiu. If you're a foodie, check out the results of the SG60 makan culture campaign to find out which are the top spots for your favourite local dishes. You just might find your new favourite chicken rice or prata joint.

Ballard actress Maggie Q learnt from Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise's work ethic
Ballard actress Maggie Q learnt from Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise's work ethic

Straits Times

time16 hours ago

  • Straits Times

Ballard actress Maggie Q learnt from Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise's work ethic

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Maggie Q plays a detective who takes over the cold case division at the Los Angeles police department in Ballard. NEW YORK – More than 20 years ago, Hong Kong cinema legend Jackie Chan saw something in a young model-turned-actress named Maggie Q, and decided to sign her to his management company and train her to become an action star. Now, the Asian-American performer is back in the spotlight with her first high-profile role in more than five years, headlining Ballard, an acclaimed police procedural series streaming on Prime Video. And the 46-year-old says witnessing the ferocious work ethic of movie stars such as Chan and her Mission: Impossible III (2006) co-star Tom Cruise continues to shape her professionally today. A spin-off of the cult Bosch crime shows (2014 to 2025), Ballard – which has a 100 per cent critics' rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes – follows Renee Ballard (Q), a detective with a chip on her shoulder who takes over the cold case division at the Los Angeles police department. At a recent screening in New York, Q – whose last major TV roles were the action thriller Nikita (2010 to 2013) and political drama Designated Survivor (2016 to 2019) – says it was an honour to portray a police detective. The source material for the show, the Renee Ballard crime novels by best-selling American author Michael Connelly, were based on a real 30-year female police veteran whom Q spent time with on set every day. 'And there are so many qualities about her that I don't possess, but was able to bring to Ballard – because as a detective, there's a certain amount of not just patience but also fortitude,' says Q, whose full name is Margaret Quigley. Her Vietnamese mother and Irish-Polish American father met during the Vietnam War. Maggie Q in Ballard. PHOTO: PRIME VIDEO 'You have to keep your eye on the prize and it takes years, so you can imagine the dedication. You're talking about a detective who will spend 10, 15 years just trying to bring one family a modicum of peace after something tragic.' Q left her home in Honolulu, Hawaii, in her late teens, and moved to Tokyo and Hong Kong to become a model. She made the leap to acting. Impressed with her turn in Hong Kong action film Gen-Y Cops (2000), Chan gave her bit parts in his American action movies Rush Hour 2 (2001) and Around The World In 80 Days (2004). 'He's one of the hardest workers I've ever seen,' says Q of the 71-year-old, who made his mark in Hollywood with the Rush Hour action comedies (1998 to 2007) and voiced Master Monkey in the Kung Fu Panda animated franchise (2008 to 2016). 'I saw him and went, 'Oh, it takes 1,000 per cent. Not 100 per cent, not 200 per cent. Everything you have.' 'And for my early days, to be able to witness that type of work ethic, I think that cemented something in me, and I'm a hard worker already,' adds the star, who is married to Vietnamese-American former hedge fund manager Curtis Macnguyen, 56. When she took on her first big role in an American film, playing an intelligence agent in the spy thriller Mission: Impossible III, she experienced the same thing with American actor Cruise, 63. 'Same work ethic, and both very successful people. And I got to see very early on what that took,' says Q, who went on to appear in the Divergent science-fiction film trilogy (2014 to 2016). US actress Maggie Q attends the Los Angeles premiere of Prime Video's Ballard in California on July 9. PHOTO: AFP With Cruise, she also got her first close-up look at Hollywood megastardom when she shot her scenes with him. On their first day of filming at the Tiber river in Rome, Italy, 'there must have been at least 5,000 people lining the river just to catch a glimpse of him'. 'I was in a boat with him and I remember thinking, 'My god, the power of a movie star.' I didn't know what a movie star was until that film.'

Nafa illustration students bring local children's books to life
Nafa illustration students bring local children's books to life

Straits Times

timea day ago

  • Straits Times

Nafa illustration students bring local children's books to life

The TL;DR: Nafa students were tasked to transform three unpublished children's manuscripts into market-ready picture books. A total of 24 entries were submitted, with the winning illustrations to be published in 2026. SINGAPORE – For two days, two students from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) went around neighbourhoods in Jurong and Aljunied to photograph HDB facades, lift landings, and polyclinics from specific angles. These images served as visual references for Miss Cindy Callista Lim, and Miss Cathleen Briggita Kandou, both 19, when illustrating Finding Missing Mali. The book, by Nurul Amirah Muhd Azmy, was one of three English children's manuscripts assigned to Year 2 students in the illustration design with animation diploma course, as part of their academic curriculum. Said Miss Kandou: 'The goal was to get the perspective right. In children's books or graphic novels, perspective is crucial, as it helps guide the reader's eyes and keep scenes clear.' Their attention to detail paid off. The duo was among three pairs of students awarded the Student Illustrator Book Prize this year, for each of the manuscripts, which were due to be published. The competition is jointly organised by the Singapore Book Publishers Association and Nafa, University of the Arts Singapore. The second winning team comprised Miss Carmelita Angelica Josopandojo and Miss Tanya, who goes by only one name, both 19. They illustrated The Way Ahead by Emily Lim-Leh, a story about a mouse on a treasure hunt, where each obstacle he faces becomes a lesson in resilience. Miss Demitria Jocelyn Gunawan, 20, and Miss Thara Adristi Aulia Aspriandhi, 21, were also awarded for their work on The Little Girl Who Made it Snow, by an anonymous author. The book has been withdrawn from publication for undisclosed reasons. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 'For one last time, let's go home': Tears, laughs as last scheduled Jetstar Asia flight touches down Singapore Over half of job applications by retrenched Jetstar Asia staff led to offers or interviews: CEO Singapore No entry: ICA to bar high-risk, undesirable travellers from boarding S'pore-bound ships, flights Singapore 5 foreign women suspected of trafficking 27kg of cocaine nabbed in Changi Airport Singapore Fallen tree branch damages two Yishun flats, showering one home owner in shattered glass Singapore Man accused of raping woman who hired him to fix lights in her flat claims she made first move Singapore 1 ticket wins $12.8 million Toto jackpot draw Singapore 'Switching careers just as I became a dad was risky, but I had to do it for my family' Each winning team received a cash prize of $1,000. The winning student illustrators of two manuscripts will also have their work used in the books, which will be launched at the Singapore Children's Book Festival in mid-2026. This year's edition – the second time that the competition has been held – highlighted local voices and heritage, promoting children's books by Singaporean authors and illustrators that reflect the rich multicultural tapestry of the nation. Twenty-four pairs of students were given roughly eight weeks to complete the work. Using software such as Procreate and ibis Paint X, each team came up with 10 pages of illustrations. Ms Marie Toh, senior lecturer from Nafa's School of Design and Media, said that the students' works were assessed by clear documentation of their design rationales and experimentation, as well as how polished and well-executed their final outcomes were. The teaching team shortlisted the top two entries for each manuscript and then handed them over to the respective publishers – Epigram Books, Bubbly Books and Pustaka Nasional – to select the final winners. From left to right: Nafa students Tanya and Carmelita Angelica Josopandojo, The Way Ahead author Emily Lim-Leh and Bubbly Books publisher Eliza Teoh PHOTO Courtesy of Emily Lim-Leh Ms Emily Lim-Leh, 53, author of The Way Ahead, said: 'My publisher Bubbly Books and I decided on Carmelita's and Tanya's illustrations as the winning entry as they have a charming and whimsical interpretation of my The Way Ahead manuscript. We're impressed by the quality of these Nafa students' artwork and design style.' She said that the team won her heart with 'a magically dreamlike drawing of a deer with antlers that grew out like greened branches of a tree', adding: 'I feel they have brought in creativity and their sense of wonder, which makes this a wonderfully collaborative effort.' When deciding which manuscript to illustrate, Nafa student Miss Lim said Finding Missing Mali stood out because it reflected her own experience of moving from Indonesia to Singapore two years ago for her studies. Miss Demitria Jocelyn Gunawan (left) and Miss Thara Adristi Aulia Aspriandhi illustrated The Little Girl Who Made It Snow. PHOTO COURTESY OF NAFA The story follows Hana, a shy girl who moves from Thailand to Singapore and prefers to stay at home with her cat Mali than to go out into the intimidating world. But when Mali goes missing, Hana ventures out to find it, and along the way begins to connect with people in her new neighbourhood. 'Singapore was still a foreign country, so it was hard (for me) to adapt, similar to how Hana struggles to communicate in the story,' said Miss Lim. 'Mali, the cat is like her coping mechanism. I also have a cat, so I related to that a lot.' Miss Tanya, 19, one of the illustrators for The Way Ahead. PHOTO COURTESY OF NAFA Miss Carmelita Angelica Josopandojo, 19, the other student Illustrator for The Way Ahead. PHOTO COURTESY OF NAFA Most of the winners told TLDR that being able to see their illustrations published was a boost to their decision to pursue a career doing commissioned artwork. Miss Tanya, who began taking commissions from hobbyist artists to illustrate character designs at the age of 13, said: 'Before entering art school, I was already active in online (art) communities and had a clear understanding of what the career demands... That gave me confidence going in.' For instance, she had a clearer idea on what shape language to use and how to design commercially appealing characters. She and Miss Josopandojo designed the main characters with a round shape language, as they wanted the mouse to be a cute and affable protagonist. Miss Tanya added: 'I took on commissioned work to show my parents that this could be a viable career. So I think that's why they are extra supportive.' She added that while she and her peers are aware of the difficulties in the industry, the concerns are not in the forefront of their minds. 'Our focus now is to hone our skills and put our best foot forward, so that we can be competitive in the field.' Added Miss Kandou: 'I believe that what matters most now is that our book is given a chance to find its way into more hands and hearts.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store