Jackie Chan's daughter Etta Ng has only $3.50 to pay hostel bill

HONG KONG - When the owner of a hostel in Mong Kok in Hong Kong asked for payment, the guest could hand over only HK$20 (S$3.50).

The 19-year-old - whom the owner found out only later was Jackie Chan's estranged daughter Etta Ng - said that amount was all she had.

She and the other guest - Andi Autumn, 31, a social media influencer, whom she married last month in Canada - had chalked up a bill of HK$2,250 for a five-night stay.

The owner, who said she was informed by the duo that they were models, told reporters last week that they would emerge from their room only at about 4pm or 5pm each day to get food.

The couple had returned to Hong Kong from Canada.

The owner added that the room was littered with food boxes and trash, reported Apple Daily.

After the pair were asked to leave, they went to seek help at the home of Ng's mother - former Miss Asia Elaine Ng - whose affair with action star Chan made headlines in 1999.

Elaine Ng was later seen driving the couple to a bank to withdraw money.

In an interview with Apple Daily, Etta Ng said she does not need a lifeline from Chan.

The actor, 64, who is married to former Taiwanese actress Lin Feng-jiao, does not mention Etta Ng in his recent autobiography Never Grow Up, though he acknowledges that he had an affair.

"I don't think of him as a bad or a good person because I really don't know him," said Etta Ng.

"If I don't really know someone, I can't judge them. I know when I was young, I would have said some impulsive things, but now I'm a bit more level-headed."

But she herself could not escape being judged by others.

"It was really weird because when I was born, everyone knew who I was. I didn't even know who I was and everyone was following every move I made to see how I'd turn out.

"People thought I had a relationship with my dad, so everyone kept saying 'she's a rich girl'."

She also brushed off talk that Autumn had befriended her because of the latter's assumption that she had money.

Etta Ng hopes that her mother - whom she describes as traditional - can come to terms with her marriage to Autumn and not refer to the latter as just her daughter's "friend".

Meanwhile, Etta Ng hopes to make her own impact by setting up a creative agency in Hong Kong with Autumn.

"My last name was never Chan," she said of her desire to step out from the star's shadow.

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