Maria Cordero’s husband of 21 years passes away

In the wee hours of November 5, Hong Kong actress-singer Maria Cordero took to Facebook to announce that her husband Rick da Silva has passed on. In the Facebook post, she included a photo of her and her husband and the caption, “My love, my man, RIP. See you in heaven.” So far the post has received 61,000 reactions and 36,000 comments. The cause of death is unknown for now.

In August, the 66-year-old Cordero uploaded a video revealing that her husband had contracted pneumonia. She shared that da Silva also had a pre-existing condition – lung adenocarcinoma, a type of lung cancer – which was made worse by the pneumonia.

“I nearly went crazy. Looking at how he’s suffering, I immediately got a headache.”

Cordero slept on the sofa in her husband’s ward for three weeks so she could care for him. The couple have been married for 21 years.

Maria Cordero is a singer, actress, TV Host and DJ from Hong Kong. She grew up in Hong Kong. She also has her own cooking show, Maria’s Kitchen on Cable TV. Her fans nicknamed her “Fat Mama”.

Cordero was born to a Macanese family of Portuguese-Chinese heritage at the Hospital Conde S. Januário in Macau in 1954. She is of paternal Portuguese descent. Her family moved to Shelley Street, Hong Kong when she was 10 years old. When she was 11 her father died, and she began working to support her seven brothers and sisters. She resorted to using identity cards from friends, because the legal working age in Hong Kong was 14. Her first job was as an usher for a local cinema.

While working as a hotel telephone operator, Cordero came across the opportunity to learn the bass guitar. The hotel resident band found out and hired her to play at night after she auditioned. For several years she worked a triple job of telephone operator in the day, band player by night, and  as a cashier as well. But she also worked as a line cook for takeaway contractors for office workers, thus having excellent cooking skills, which led to her having hosted three food and cuisine shows.

Cordero married a widowed Filipino pianist and bandmate 22 years her senior when she was in her late teens. She and her first husband have been divorced since 1989 and she then married a Portuguese engineer. She is the mother of six children (two boys with her ex-husband, two boys and two girls from her ex-husband’s previous marriage). Her eldest son Alfonso Bibi Cordero is a member of the Hong Kong Hockey Team which won the bronze medal in the 2009 East Asian Games.