Singapore—When the country’s “Instagram Queen” lost the other half of a matching pair of earrings from luxury jeweller Cartier, she cried for four days and eventually shelled out S$30,000 for its replacement.

Whew. The rich, as they say, are very different from you and me.

Crazy Rich Asian, did you say?

The socialite and influencer was recently featured in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), and the curious and aspirational among us can get an update on what Ms Chua has been up to, especially lately, since the Covid-19 pandemic has somewhat curtailed her jet-setting lifestyle.

Surprisingly, while everyone’s movements have been restricted, Ms Chua has pursued a few things in common with many others—particularly gardening and making TikTok videos. Except, of course, unlike the rest of us who were trying to discover our green thumbs while stuck at home, the socialite had the gardens of her S$63 million mansion to play with.

There, she did all the landscaping herself. “I didn’t even call a landscaper, because it will look too rigid and curated. It will look artificial. I prefer a more personal touch,” SCMP quotes her as saying.

Ms Chua even wanted to vlog all about her landscaping pursuits, except that her partner, Terence Koh, told her that her audience was more interested in watching her buy luxury bags than gardening.

But let’s go back to that lost Cartier earring.

Last October, Ms Chua uploaded a vlog episode wherein she showed her extensive jewellery collection, which, she said, many had asked for.

Sitting amid her designer handbags and two Louis Vuitton jewellery cases that she bought specifically for the blog, Ms Chua showed her copy of Hollywood actress’ Elizabeth Taylor’s coffee table book, which is her “forever diamond inspiration.”

“You can see how old this book looks and how torn and tattered it is, and it is probably the only book that I flip and read and flip and read, until, I’m pretty sure, I know every word in this book.”

Ms Chua told the story of having been at an event at a club “one and a half years” before, and when she got back, she noticed that one of her earrings was gone.

“They searched the whole place, and they did not manage to find it. And that was really painful, I actually cried for four days because it was a very expensive loss.”

She went on to say that the earring had been from a special collection, therefore replacing it was not easy.

Since buying the new earring, she has never worn the pair in public again.

“It took me a while, and thirty thousand dollars. It was really a big loss for me and really super annoying. I finally decided that I should make them a pair again. But after I made them a pair again, they have never gone out of the house.

It wasn’t free, guys. There is nothing free in this world.”

Her mini-Panther earring from Cartier took around six to eight months to replace. Ms Chua went to Paris herself to pick up the replacement, calling Cartier “so sweet” for throwing in a red leather case for the earrings with her name embossed in gold.

She said this made her feel “a little better” after how much she spent.

“It kind of was like a traumatic experience for me to lose something that valuable.”

Ms Chua said that she had also lost an emerald bracelet at an event many years before, joking that those watching her vlog should just go to every event she goes to as they “may be able to have a treasure hunt.”

She then showed a one-of-a-kind diamond-encrusted Chopard bracelet watch that had also been lost at an event, but “thankfully, this time” someone had found it and returned it to her.

“Amen,” she said.

Commenters on the vlog have pointed out that while Ms Chua had the luxury of spending S$30,000 just to replace an earring, many others are suffering from economic hardship due to the pandemic.

Nevertheless, the socialite has gone from strength to strength as an influencer. She now has 1.2 million Instagram followers and over 482,000 YouTube followers fascinated by her luxurious lifestyle.

After all, maybe there’s a crazy rich Asian-wannabe in us all.

/TISG

Read also: Singapore’s Instagram queen apologises for racist post, pledges to donate to migrant worker charities