The chance to sashay down the red carpet of a globally recognised movie award ceremony should be something a lot of people would snap up in a heartbeat.

Mark Lee's wife Catherine Ng, however, was hesitant to do it for last weekend's (Nov 27) Golden Horse Awards, as revealed in her recent Instagram post.

She was invited to the ceremony as actor-comedian Mark was there as an award presenter. The couple also attended last year's event when he was nominated for Best Leading Actor for the Singapore comedy film Number 1.

She wrote in her post: "My husband wanted me to walk the red carpet with him last year to boost his morale. A big group of us made our way together so I was very happy. However, some netizens posted nasty comments afterwards that got me a little upset.

"Thankfully, Mark kept consoling me and told me to ignore the criticism. He said even the best people would be chastised, so we should just live our lives happily."

Because of the naysayers, Catherine said she originally planned to attend this year's ceremony only as Mark's assistant. But he wanted her to walk the red carpet with him again.

She then thanked Singaporean actress Yvonne Lim — who's based in Taipei — and Taiwanese singer Angel Chu for giving her the courage to do it a second time. Angel's husband is Taiwanese host Nono, who's good friends with Mark.

Catherine added: "Although I'm not a celebrity, I am the woman behind my husband. Who cares about the haters? I am the strongest force supporting my husband."

While she didn't mention what the haters wrote last year, a local media report said the comments were about how she left their three kids alone in Singapore just so she could bask in the limelight.

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com

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