Flowers for the lady may be romantic to many, but apparently not for Mark Lee’s wife.
Mark’s love life isn’t all a bed of roses especially where flowers are involved, he revealed in a recent interview with AsiaOne for E-Junkies.
When asked about whether he’s ever felt like he’s failed his wife, the 54-year-old veteran actor said: “Every year, on my wife’s birthday — I fail every year.”
Explaining himself, he shared: “I never, ever bought flowers for her before, even until now.”
However, he might have to rethink this habit: this year marks his wife’s 50th birthday, so it’s likely an important milestone for her.
“So now, I’m cracking under pressure. I don’t know what to do, and every time I give her flowers, she’ll ask, ‘Why, did your friends or sponsors give them to you?’
“She’ll know,” Mark laughed: “I never, ever buy flowers.”
Mark married Catherine Ng in 1999 and the couple have been together for 24 years.
Mark and Shane Mardjuki are actors in Boi Kwong’s latest film, Geylang, where they portray a pimp and a doctor respectively.
While Mark’s character, Fatty, tries to clear his debts and earn money in any way he can while protecting his father (Steven Woon), Doctor Sun (Shane) is willing to give everything up if it means his daughter is safe.
Although Mark’s response was humorous, Shane took a more serious tone as he approached the topic of a failing family.
He said: “I have set a bar that is too high, I think. I feel like every time I’m with my kids, I must be the best version of myself. I should take things and not get angry.
“So every time I get slightly angry, I feel like I’ve failed them. So maybe that bar is a bit too high.”
Shane also added: “In general, I’m trying to be the best version of myself whenever I’m with my kids, so yes, I do feel constantly that I’ve let them down in some way and I just hope I haven’t done lasting damage.”
Shane is married to his wife of nine years, Jin Pang-Mardjuki, and the duo have two children aged nine and six respectively.
That doesn’t mean that Shane isn’t prepared to make changes and improve himself even further, however.
Explaining what he could do to improve his parenting skills, Shane said: “I think I should feel the anger, but not act on it… I should try to explain myself in a better way. That is the goal right now.”
Geylang also stars Sheila Sim, Gary Lau and Taiwan actress Patricia Lin and is available in theatres now.
For more on the interview with Mark, Shane, Sheila, Gary and Boi, please watch the E-Junkies video.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.