Early this year, celebrated TVB singer-actor Raymond Lam (林峯) was exposed to have fallen in love with Mainland female starlet Mavis Pan Shuang Shuang (潘霜霜). However, after a period of intense love, Mavis Pan had repeatedly publicly divulged their secret dating history to the outside world. Since Raymond has always been portrayed to be a swinging single and dreamboat to many of his fans, this revelation naturally left the clandestine romance to be doomed, leaving Raymond with hardly any choice but to heartlessly cut off all the romance ties with Mavis Pan. Heartbroken and crestfallen, Raymond tried to numb his pain by fully immersing himself into the endless pile of work, in hopes of recuperating emotionally and seeking consolation in his career life after tragically drowning in the sea of love. However, despite that harrowing romance being a thing of the past, it was rather apparent that Raymond had been terribly scarred for life as he revealed that he still felt heart-wrenched upon thinking about it from time to time…This interview marks the first of five interviews revealing the inner world of Raymond Lam. Raymond brooded, “To me, love is actually a very private and personal matter. This belief was further instilled in me after I became an artiste, such that I would do anything to protect my other half. However, as much as I want to, I absolutely understand that reality is always different from one’s rationalization. In that case, I shall just try my best then! Actually, everyone should have already known about the details of my love life so I shall not deliberately dwell upon it here. In fact, I can tell you that I have been portrayed dating in the tabloid fodders much more times than I have actually dated in real life.” Buried himself in work to forget the romance but ended up physically and emotionally exhausted Raymond continued, “Actually, what exactly is love? When I was much younger, I would think of love as being very simple. Dating meant that we would roam the streets, eat meals and catch a movie together. In fact, I thought of it as being something like a set meal. However, after growing up and undergoing some experiences, I realized that love isn’t that superficial after all. Honestly, if you asked me whether my previous relationship was most painful, I would reply you that yes, yes it was one of the most painful experiences that I ever had. In fact, the impact was so excruciating that I haven’t been able to completely put down this emotional baggage as yet. It is, however, perfectly normal to feel this way as it is only human to feel upset reminiscing about some scenes or a person after the end of every relationship hence I shall just take it as an experience in life! I still remembered that I was filming TVB ancient periodic drama, Back To The Three Kingdoms 《回到三國》, at that time and in order to forget the unhappy matters, I even tried to use work to numb myself. Although I kept telling myself not to think too much, it was really hard not to, especially with the relentless pursuing from the media on a daily basis. To be honest, I was absolutely physically and emotionally worn out. In any case, I have already said my piece on this matter in the previous interviews. With that being said, I would love to take this opportunity to thank the media for treating me well and leaving me some leeway at that point in time. Apart from that, I must say that the media does understand me very well on a certain level and had projected it in their reports such that everyone could view this matter logically by putting themselves in my shoes. For this, I truly am very thankful to you guys (the media)!” Raymond Lam professed that he would tread more cautiously the next time he ventures into love Feels that he should follow fate but accepts blind-dating Raymond wondered aloud, “Actually, who doesn’t have an experience in love? My failure this time ’round doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t dare to venture into sea of love again. However, I would tread even more cautiously for now as the society in today’s modern times are extremely complicated such that the thoughts of many people are now distorted. It even comes to a point where their views on matters have become very perplexing. Although not everyone is like that, I would still tend to have my misgivings. This is also the reason why I don’t have many friends. Have I ever thought about getting married? Well, I don’t even have a prospective dating partner yet! I do, however, admit that I’m a contradictory person. When my niece/nephew was born, I felt that my sister had already helped us to fulfill the child-bearing obligations to our ancestors. However, on second thought, I am after all the eldest son in my family [re: An ancient Chinese belief that the eldest son has a responsibility to produce a heir or rather a son to carry on the bloodline of the family] and after witnessing such a scene, I found myself subconsciously imagining what would happen if I had a child of my own in the future. Actually, given my current age, it’s about time that I should set up a family of my own as I wouldn’t be as robust in taking care of my kids when I’m much older. Sometimes, I do think that I might even look handsome hugging my kids out on the streets! But of course I do know that this won’t be an easy task as it is very difficult to meet someone who is truly right for you.” “Furthermore, it’s really complex to see the true nature of a person such that you can’t fathom what the person truly sees in you, what she actually likes about you. I must clarify that these are not afterthoughts left behind from being badly hurt in love but I just felt that I wasn’t mature enough to handle the matter at that point in time. In the past, there was no such thing as a dating life for me. As such, my family often thought about arranging for me to go on blind dates but, in actual fact, I secretly opposed the idea as I felt that blind dates were way too old-fashioned and kept thinking in my heart, “What kind of era are we currently living in?”. In the end, I did not attend any of the blind dates arranged. Despite my obvious signs of reluctance, my mother has recently resumed her former self of anxiously finding me another prospective girlfriend again by distributing a “gathering of heroes” invitation to all her distant relatives and friends, such that it’s akin to announcing that I’m ready for another relationship. However, this is really not the current case for me as I have become less of a forward-looking individual and more of a person who believes in following fate. But, honestly, isn’t life supposed to be like that? Having our upsides and downsides are only part and parcel of life. In fact, who doesn’t want to be loved and fondled in this world? After all, I’m always the one cajoling others when I step into character during filming hence it’s only natural to inevitably hope that someone else would please me after a long day of filming! But it’s okay, I’m not completely disheartened as I firmly believe that that day will eventually come.” Analyzing each and every one of his rumored girlfriends; Raymond Lam feels that Linda Chung looks most compatible onscreen with him and thus hopes to continue their previous affinity Raymond’s rumored girlfriends are simply too many to count by our bare fingers but it seemed like all of them were his ex co-stars from the previous dramas that he had starred in. The list includes frequent onscreen partner Tavia Yeung (楊怡) who had been paired up with him as early as in the year 2002 for TVB classic drama, Golden Faith 《流金岁月》, as well as in the year 2010 for Mysteries of Love 《谈情说案》and in the recently-concluded series, Men With No Shadows《不速之約》, TVB Fadan actress Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣) who had collaborated with him for Heart of Greed 《溏心風暴》and Moonlight Resonance 《溏心風暴之家好月圓》, former TVB renowned artiste Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼) who had been partnered up with him for TVB-China commemorative production, Drive of Life 《歲月風雲》, and The Colorful World of Sister Fa 《花花世界花家姐》, promising young movie starlet Rose Chan (陳嘉桓) who guest-starred in two of his MVs (Music Videos) and etc. However, according to Raymond, none of them instilled a romantic spark in him and neither did he exchange any electrifying glances with them in real life. Trying to put his point across, Raymond analyzes the list of his rumored girlfriends one by one… Linda Chung Possibility of dating Raymond Lam: ★★★★★ Charmaine Sheh Possibility of dating Raymond Lam: ★★★ Rose Chan Possibility of dating Raymond Lam: ★ Tavia Yeung Possibility of dating Raymond Lam: ★★ Raymond Lam revealed that he was on very familiar terms with Tavia Yeung as he has known her for more than a decade now, ever since their course-mates days back in the 13th TVB Artiste Training Course in 1998. Adding onto that familiarity, Raymond had also collaborated several times with Tavia for the filming of dramas. As such, Raymond professed in a joking manner that he had already gotten “tired” of facing Tavia all day long. Jokes aside, Raymond hugely praised Tavia for staying true to herself and not changing her personality for many years now. Raymond explained, “In my eyes, Tavia has always been a tomboy as she usually has these huge gestures such that she will move about freely everyday, in a non-stop manner. Apart from that, Tavia also loves to talk hence I hardly utter a word when she’s around as she is already enough noisy! However, I do work well with her when we film scenes together.” Since Raymond was too overfamiliar with Tavia to be more than just friends, then what about Linda Chung whom he was heavily rumored with, due to their convincing couple image in “Moonlight Resonance”? In reply to this, Raymond remarked that both of their external appearances made them look extremely compatible, such that the audiences were receptive to it, thus fueling the rumors to last for so long, even up till today! Raymond also laughed and admitted that given a chance, he would also love to continue his onscreen affinity with Linda Chung. As for TV Queen Charmaine Sheh, Raymond hugely praised her for being a good and experienced actress who often brought him into the scene when they were filming “Drive of Life” and “The Colorful World of Sister Fa” together. Raymond also added that he had observed Charmaine to be a senior with a strong resolution. Asked about being rumored together with Rose Chan, Raymond sighed that he was also helpless when their only collaboration had been for his MVs. Mavis Pan’s fame escalated through the roof after the leakage of the fully clothed bed photos with Raymond Lam; Oddly enough, Mavis Pan kept her sexy image at bay by covering up after gaining notoriety Ever since her fully clothed bed photos with Raymond Lam had been “accidentally” leaked, little known Mainland starlet Mavis Pan, who has the moniker of “Little Shu Qi” for her plump and luscious lips, became the highest search entry amongst the search engines. Upon searching or rather googling her name, one would easily chance upon sexy photos of her showcasing her stunning womanly curves. This thus made her a target of the paparazzi and stirred up an interest in the movie industry, catching the keen eye of movie producers as a potential movie actress. However, Mavis Pan soon became nonchalant about the notorious fame and did not accept all the job opportunities offered to her, even pulling out of the plans to release her autobiography (which she was invited to shoot after the bed photos scandal). Not taking into account the Wong Jing (王晶) movie, Treasure Inn 《財神客棧》, which she filmed before she became this famous, Mavis Pan had only accepted one movie deal to date, which was none other than the Mainland action movie, Admiral 《五星上將》. It was known that Mavis had apparently turned down filming movies which required her to be scantily clad, preferring to be known as a action gongfu movie star rather than revealing any skin. Other than that, Mavis had uploaded a close-up photo of herself onto popular Chinese microblogging social site, Weibo, in recent days. In the photo, her brows were furrowed close together and she looked deep in thought, looking as if she was heavily troubled by some perplexing matters. In the accompanying Weibo tweet that Mavis uploaded along with the photo, she wrote, “I feel very lost and confused out of a sudden, like I don’t know him/her anymore.” Without even having a clue on what or whom she was implying to, hordes of fans left messages of concern for her once her Weibo tweet was sent out. Apart from that, the fans also complimented her for increasingly resembling famed Hong Kong model-actress, Angelababy (杨颖), in recent days. Will Raymond Lam be moving his home to snip his rapid love luck or rather peach blossom in the bud? Raymond Lam’s awesome luck in love may have allegedly stemmed from his “peach blossom” home. Following the leakage of the fully clothed bed photos with Mavis Pan, which were taken in his residence, there were also reports exposing that a female friend from his hometown, Xiamen’s Angel Fang (芳芳), had free access to his home, entering and exiting it as and whenever she liked! In the reports, it was noted that Angel Fang had snapped photos of herself with the surroundings of Raymond’s home and Raymond’s beloved dog and uploaded them onto Weibo thus stirring up rife speculations of being romantically linked to Raymond. However, the rumor eventually stopped when Raymond flatly denied any romantic allegations through the distribution of a press release to the media. When the reporter pointed that the root of all his alleged scandals lied in his “peach blossom” home, Raymond remarked that he had always thought of taking an indifference stance towards matters and following the bed photos scandal with Mavis Pan, Raymond professed that he was even more determined than before not to discuss love-related matters with the media in the future. Asked whether he would relocate his home elsewhere in order to snip the “peach blossom” luck by the bud or stop inviting female friends to his residence to play or have a tour around his home from now onwards, Raymond expressed that he did not wish to respond to this question. Raymond, however, later added that it would be hard for him to draw an absolutely clear line with his friends and it was hardly possible to restrict others from visiting his home. Creds: Oriental Daily/Dramasian
