Kathy Chow (周海媚) has been in half-retirement in recent years, but this does not mean that the 46-year-old Manchurian beauty has plans for marriage. Although Kathy is in a happy and stable relationship with her boyfriend of 10 years – Mr. Liu from Beijing – Kathy has absolutely no intentions on getting married. “I already have a family! My parents did not rush me to get married. They just want their daughter to be happy. We have been together for ten years. The wedding certificate is not important to us anymore, and all that matters now is that we get along happily. We never thought about having kids, and we definitely do not think it is necessary for us to get married.” The former Miss Hong Kong pageant contestant debuted in the industry when she was 19 years old. Her first series was 1985’s star-studded The Yang’s Saga <楊家將>, portraying Yang Jiumei. Kathy’s acting career has lasted over twenty strong years, but her early years had been really tough. The struggles are over, and Kathy has finally grasped the meaning of happiness. “To be happy, you need to be in the right mindset. I’m a very simple person. I’m very easy to please, even small things like treating me candy can make me very happy.” Was that how Mr. Liu stole her heart? Kathy laughed, “When he was pursuing me he gave me a lot of chocolate. I guess that was how I gave in!” Kathy met Mr. Liu when she relocated her acting career to Beijing in the late 1990s. The couple met through a mutual friend and it was love at first sight. Mr. Liu may be seven years younger, but Kathy did not find any speck of immaturity in the tough Mr. Liu. She knew she had found her Mr. Right. The loving pair agreed to not get married, but it was not always the case. Kathy had rejected several of Mr. Liu’s proposals in the past. “He proposed to me several times before, but I never responded to them. He gave up in the end. It’s the 21st century now; marriage isn’t as important as it used to be. I’ve had a few weddings myself because of filming, and they were in both modern and dynastic eras. I’ve already gone through that age of fantasizing.” The couple does not fight very often, but life is not always drama-free for them. Their longest fight lasted several months. “I have to fly around a lot because of work and we don’t really have much time for arguments. When we come upon disagreements, we’ll try our best to be patient and accommodating. We’ve had given each other the cold treatment before though, and one of them lasted several months. At that time, I was shooting for a drama. He did not call me, so I did not call him. When I got back home, we came together as if nothing happened.” Kathy added with a laugh, “He is a bit chauvinistic. When we first dated, he once told me to retire from the industry and rejected a lot of my job offers. One day, he decided to visit me on set and got really upset as he watched me doing intimate dating scenes with my costar. He never came to visit me on set again, but jealousy is normal.” Is Kathy at the happiest time of her life now? “I still have another twenty to thirty years left. I do not know if I am at my happiest now, but in comparison to my earlier life, my life now is much more relaxed and comfortable. I get to choose the life I want to live.” Creds: ihktv
