Singapore — Singaporean actor Mark Lee and his wife have their fair share of arguments like most couples.
He once became emotional when he spoke of his younger daughter Calynn’s battle with kidney disease on the latest episode of Mediacorp talk show The Inner Circle.
However, the 52-year-old soon became his bubbly self again when his wife Catherine Ng appeared as one of the mystery guests. Host Guo Liang interviewed the couple to talk about their dating days. Lee and Ng have been married for more than 20 years. Interestingly, it was not love at first sight for Ng.
“Actually, I didn’t really like him at the beginning,” Ng confessed with an embarassed laugh.
Lee’s response, which he directed at the camera? “To all you female viewers, be careful ‘cos if you don’t have a good impression of a man, he could become your future husband.”
Even after Ng started dating Lee, the people around her was not sure of the actor as well.
“My father felt uneasy about letting me date an actor ‘cos he thought [Lee] might be a bit of a playboy,” she said, adding that Lee then promised to take Ng with him wherever he went.
Friends of Ng had their reservations too and asked her if she was really sure if she wanted to be with Lee. Ng shared that she was not attracted to Lee at first but his looks eventually grew on her. The actor also eventually managed to win Ng over by being there for her when she had some problems, according to 8days.sg.
“He’s very articulate and he’s very good at giving advice, so I slowly began to realise that he’s a pretty good person,” she shared. “He would also always call his mother at 9 or 10pm, which made me think, ‘This boy can’t be that bad.’”
However, like most couples, Lee and Ng had their fair share of arguments. Lee admitted that he once kicked his wife out of the car.
One of the things they fought about had something to do with Lee’s status as public figure. “Sometimes, when we went out, I’d be in the toilet and overhear other women say, ‘Hey, did you see that Mark Lee looking and smiling at me?’” Ng recalled. “I was furious! (Laughs)”
Lee defended himself, saying that as a celebrity, it was only proper to smile back at people who were friendly towards him. “[I got mad at her ‘cos] I felt that she should be more understanding ‘cos of my line of work.”
Nowadays Ng would prefer keeping quiet during arguments with Lee as she has no way of having the last word. Then, a while later, his way of ‘apologising’ would be to go up to her and ask what she wants to eat.
During the show they then started talking about parenthood with Lee revealing that he originally wanted four kids as he thinks ‘4’ as his lucky number. (“You’re very fortunate that it’s not 13,” he quipped to his wife).
Lee changed his mind after seeing Ng go through a difficult pregnancy with their third and youngest child, seven-year-old Calynn. “She got rashes, suffered from very bad morning sickness, and spent more time in bed, so I thought it might be worse with a fourth pregnancy. I’m already very grateful for three children.”
Besides Calynn, Mark and Catherine also have 12-year-old daughter Calista and nine-year-old son Marksonn.
When asked about their disagreements on each other’s parenting styles, Lee said that he believes he shouldn’t give his kids too hard a time and just let them enjoy their childhood. “We didn’t have tuition classes when we were young, but children these days do, and that’s on top of all their homework. I thought it would be too tough for them, but later I realised… it’s necessary.”
Ng then said that while she has their two older ones enrolled in tuition and enrichment courses, she doesn’t want to put as much pressure on their youngest ‘cos of her illness. “So she’s happier, but she’s also lazier. (Laughs)”/TISG