HK actress Bella Lam was poor growing up

Hong Kong — The media has been reporting the story of Hong Kong actress Bella Lam’s poverty-stricken childhood. A few years ago, Lam was a child actress who, along with her mother, appeared in a documentary highlighting the plight of her family. Not long after Lam was born, her father walked out on the family.

Her mother fought back tears as she told the story: “He met another woman and fell in love with her. I tried everything I could to save the marriage. I waited for him, I made soups for him but he insisted on moving out.”

The Star reported that Lam was only one year old when her father left the family. She also has an older sister who was nine back then.

Her mother continued: “I waited for him to come back. I tried looking for him to get him to help out with our living expenses but I couldn’t find him. So I had no choice but to carry her on my back and go to the streets to beg for money.”

Every day from 9 pm to midnight, mother and daughter would beg on a pedestrian bridge.

“We only stopped begging when it was raining. I had no choice because I had no money to buy baby formula, to pay rent and she was always ill at the time.”

For nine months, they suffered. Their condition only improved when someone advised them to apply for government aid.

“I’m very happy today. My two daughters have given me so much joy. I don’t need a man,” Lam’s mother said in the documentary, shot a few years after the ordeal.

The documentary first aired 18 years ago and has recently gone viral.

Lam, now 28, recently starred in Armed Reaction 2021. She told Oriental Daily News (translation via 38jiejie.com) she was surprised that the story has resurfaced:

“These are all part of my experience growing up. I’m very grateful for having my mother by my side and a lot of people who love me.

“I will work hard and not disappoint my mother, who had to suffer so much to raise me.”/TISG