TVB has recently started filming the sequel for 2004 hit series War and Beauty 《金枝慾孽》. Out of the 4 female leads from the original series, only Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯) will be returning – Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼) is currently filming in the Mainland, Maggie Cheung (張可頤) has already joined a rival TV station, and Gigi Lai (黎姿) is busy with her roles as wife and mother.
On July 24, 2010, Gigi Lai became a mother for the first time, giving birth to twin daughters. Recently, with her daughters a little over 1 year old, repeated rumors have surfaced of Gigi becoming pregnant once again; now finally, the ‘rumor’ has become fact – this past Friday, Gigi personally announced her pregnancy on her Weibo: “Very thankful! Yesterday, the doctor confirmed that I am pregnant again!”
Our [Mingpao] reporter called Gigi to once again congratulate her and with her repeated “thank you”, we could feel her pure joy even through the phone! Asked whether the current pregnancy is within her and her husband’s plan, Gigi replied: “Truly very surprised, as we didn’t think it would happen this quickly. My husband and I both love children, but it’s not always easy to become pregnant. This is truly a gift from God!”
Gigi expressed that this pregnancy has been especially difficult for her from a physical standpoint: “In the early weeks, I would vomit constantly and always felt dizzy and tired. People tell me that after the 3 month mark, things will get better, so I am currently counting down, hoping that the 3 month mark will come quickly.” Asked how far along she was [how close to the 3 month mark], Gigi would not reveal the exact number of weeks, saying only that she is almost there: “Very close, very close. I’ve been vomiting so much that I haven’t been able to eat – at home, I’ve pretty much been eating McDonalds.” (How does this pregnancy compare to the first one?) “When I was carrying twins, I vomited even more – compared to that time, it’s not as bad this time around.”
Do the twins know that they will be big sisters soon? Gigi expressed: “I just told them these past 2 days – they’ve been pointing to my tummy and saying ‘baby, baby!’”
No more night life
Since Gigi gave birth to twins the first time around, everyone was naturally curious whether this time would turn out to be ‘double’ or ‘single’? Gigi replied: “This time it’s not twins – the doctor won’t be wrong, right? At this time, we don’t know the sex of the baby.” (Do you and your husband prefer boy or girl?) “Boy or girl doesn’t matter – my husband said that most important is for the baby to be healthy.” The couple has not planned how many children they would like to have: “Just let nature take its course! How many children we have is dependent on how many God graces us with, so there’s no point in forcing it. Basically, whatever God grants us, we will happily accept!”
Gigi is a full-time mother, personally taking care of her twin daughters herself. She admits that it is an exhausting process, but one that she enjoys tremendously: “I enjoy it a lot – just seeing them gives me such great joy. They are starting to call for me and when I ask them questions, they answer….all my life, I’ve never had this type of feeling – such happiness! Every day, as soon as I wake up, I go check on them and whenever I’m outside, I’m constantly thinking about them – nowadays, I rarely go out at night because if I’m not able to make it back in time to tuck them into bed, I feel a tremendous sense of guilt. They go to bed at 9pm and I usually accompany them, reading their favorite book to them.” Gigi’s friends all know that nowadays, she puts her daughters before all else, so when they want to meet up with her, they try to schedule lunch gatherings whenever possible: “If it’s an evening gathering, I will for sure be late, as I need to wait until my daughters are asleep before I leave. My life has changed tremendously – nowdays, I won’t have a night life any more.”
When her twins were born, Gigi described her older daughter as being very refined and gentle while her younger daughter is lively and full of spirit. Have they changed now? “Their personalities are very different. The older one loves to read -- whenever she sees a book, she’ll pick it up and start reading; the younger one is a lot more active and lively in comparisons – she likes to sing and dance.” Looks like the personalities they had at birth continue as they get older!
The twins are currently 20 months old and like many children at that age, they go to playgroup often: “Actually, it’s based on their interests – they learn different things each day, such as English language, music, dance, etc. I accompany them to class each day – honestly speaking, a lot of the stuff they can actually learn at home, but since many children nowadays enter school early, they have many friends to play with!”
TVB trying to ‘feel her out’
With War and Beauty 2 already filming, Gigi is happy to watch from the sidelines: “I’ve been paying attention to news about my ‘sisters’ [TN: her friends in the industry such as Sheren Tang, Ada Choi, etc.] and I support them completely – I wish them success! With such great cast and crew, it is definitely a ‘golden’ production!” (Any interest in making a comeback?) “Sometimes, I would think back to the days of filming and how it felt to absorb myself in acting, but then I think of my two daughters and immediately feel that taking care of them is the best [job]. Acting and taking care of my daughters each has its joys – at different stages in life, we make different choices; some people are able to marry, have kids, and still continue their acting career, but that type of lifestyle isn’t suited for me – from an emotional and psychological perspective, I may not be able to handle it.”
Gigi admitted that a few people within TVB had asked her: “You’re not acting anymore?”. She knows that they are trying to ‘feel her out’, but she has no intentions of returning: “TVB is truly very good to me – whether it’s the executives, producers, or my seniors, all of them have been very respectful toward me and give me a lot of freedom.”
Even though Gigi has no intentions of making a comeback in front of the camera, that doesn’t mean that she is ‘disappearing’ completely from society – on the contrary, she’s been actively pursuing her own career: “My current interest is studying beauty and cosmetic medicine and taking care of my brother’s clinic. I attend meetings and work on restructuring as well as developing different departments within the company – there are plans to expand and upgrade the company. My motto is that ‘if we don’t advance, we’re actually regressing’, so I constantly encourage my staff learn new things and take in new information so that we can move forward and provide better customer service. Most people go into business after they finish school, but my situation is different – I was thrown into it in the middle, so I’m learning as I go.”
Any complaints from your husband about your career? “He was opposed at first and wasn’t too happy with it. But I truly feel that it’s important for a woman to have her own career – even though I don’t need to worry about making a living, having a career gives a certain value to my existence, as it gives me a sense of satisfaction and security. I’ve always been the self-sufficient type and I don’t like to ask my husband for money – I insist on using my own abilities to earn money.”
Her brother misses ‘Angel’
Gigi expressed that she used 3 reasons to convince her husband: “I was already taking care of the company prior to getting married, plus my brother put his heart and soul into the company – I’ve seen customers come in crying and leave smiling! Also, even though I put a lot of effort into it, I’m also learning a lot in the process, so it’s actually quite meaningful. In addition, with this job, I can continue to remain low profile [her husband doesn’t like being in the limelight]. He wasn’t able to stop me, so he eventually gave in.”
After her brother Lai Ying’s (黎嬰) 2007 car accident, he has continued to recover slowly and his situation has been positive: “Let’s take it slowly, as there is still a long path [to recovery] ahead. I greatly admire my brother’s perseverance and endurance. We keep in touch constantly via email.” [Lai Ying’s emails are usually written in English]. “He is still very much alert and is especially good with remembering all the medical terms – sometimes, I would ask him some medical related questions and he would explain things very clearly to me.” One day, Lai Ying sent his older sister Gigi an email asking: “How is Angel?” to which Gigi replied: “Who is Angel?” Lai Ying then replied: “[The] twins are Angel(s)!” Gigi realized that Lai Ying missed his dear twin nieces.
Same doctor and same hospital
According to her close friends, since Gigi had twins last time, she was originally planning to seek a multiple birth specialist to oversee her prenatal care this time around, however since she found out that she won’t be having twins this time, she decided to keep the same doctor she had last time and give birth at the same hospital.
Because she had not reached the 3 month mark yet, Gigi had kept her pregnancy under wraps earlier during gatherings with her friends. Gigi’s husband Patrick Ma (馬廷強) is very protective of her and dotes on her constantly – since he is very understanding of the difficulty that his wife endured during her first pregnancy, all this time he has never given her pressure to have more kids.
