Christopher Lee shares an incident that stuck with him after serving four weeks in prison

Singapore – After the recent charges local celebrities Terence Cao and Shane Powfaced had to face for breaching social distancing measures and DUI, it was renowned actor Christopher Lee’s turn to talk about his fair share of troubles in the past.

Lee was caught for drink-driving and a hit-and-run accident in 2006. He was given a four-week jail sentence, fined S$4,500 and banned from driving for three years.

He spoke about it recently when he and his friend, actor Brandon Wong, were the featured guests on the talk show series The Inner Circle.

Recalling the incident, Wong told host Guo Liang: “We knew something had happened. We asked him about it, but Christopher is the sort who would only share his troubles when he’s ready to talk. If he isn’t, we would only add to his misery if we kept prodding him about it. So all we could do then was let him settle it on his own.”

Wong said when Lee was released from prison, he and some friends went in their cars to pick him up and “hide” him without catching the media’s attention. Unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plan as a crowd of reporters and photographers turned up.

A couple of (edited) old news clips were featured in this episode, showing Lee walking out of prison alone and uneasily smiling at the reporters surrounding him.

He couldn’t spot any of his friends, he told Guo Liang when asked on the talk show. He said that he had to remain calm when the reporters were questioning him but he didn’t want to say anything.

It wasn’t long before he saw a taxi approaching him that was coincidentally available for hire. He flagged it down. “Once I got into the cab, I told the driver who I was, and he replied, ‘I know who you are. It’s okay, I’ll drive you out.’

“I was very touched. He asked if anyone had come to pick me up. He told me to call my family and friends to ask where they are, and he would send me there to meet up with them,” Lee said.

What a precious moment, indeed. It’s obvious that Lee bounced back from his mistake – and isn’t afraid to stand up to it. He’s come a long way, given his achievements.

In 2009 he married actress Fann Wong. In 2014, Lee and his wife welcomed their son, Zed. He also took home the Best Lead Actor title at Taiwan’s Golden Bell Awards.

In 2020, he was in Taiwan to film drama series Pursuers and was featured in Stephanie Sun’s song What Remains.