'I smashed the plate of food on the floor': Julian Cheung speaks about his and Anita Yuen's temper differences

To maintain this 30-year-old relationship, both parties had to navigate around their temper differences.

On the first two episodes of the latest season of Hear U Out released on meWATCH yesterday (Sept 7), Quan Yi Fong interviewed Hong Kong actor-singer Julian Cheung, where he talked about the differences in temper between him and his actress wife Anita Yuen.

Anita, 52, was Miss Hong Kong 1990, and when prompted to share his thoughts of when they first met in 1993 for the filming of movie A Warrior's Tragedy, Julian, also 52, said: "She's Miss Hong Kong! Who wouldn't like her?

"She was riding a white horse, and wearing period garb with tribal flair. She was really pretty."

However, a fiery temper belied her gorgeous beauty, as Yi Fong put it.

Julian expressed reflectively: "I think she's tough… She might have excess heat in the liver in traditional Chinese medicine terms. She flares up easily and is prone to outburst of temper when driving.

"I keep more things to myself and don't flare up so easily. I am not hard on myself, and I forgive others easily too."

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When asked how he usually responds to her temper outbursts, Julian said that he would usually watch and even "secretly laugh internally".

Though different from Anita, Julian has his own temper patterns.

Julian said: "I am an extreme person. Ninety per cent of the time I won't throw my temper, but I will throw a temper the remaining 10 per cent. If I really want to hold something against someone, it usually has to do with principles.

"I wouldn't let some things go even after Anita has apologised, and she found it scary… It's very unlikely for that 10 per cent to happen though."

As an example, Julian shared that during the pandemic lockdown period, Anita and their son, Morton, 16, were quarrelling over some food.

"I felt annoyed, so I smashed the plate of food on the floor. It didn't anger me terribly but it did provoke me," he said.

As they were at the family home of his makeup artist, he shared that the hosts cleaned it up.

Being frank to a fault, Julian even confessed that he felt Anita did not have postpartum depression, even though Anita thought otherwise, according to Yi Fong.

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He explained his analysis of her postpartum moods: "When she was pregnant, everybody gave in to her. She got whatever food she wanted.

"After giving birth, maybe she felt disappointed and upset when people didn't pay her as much attention anymore."

Nonetheless, he felt that couples, married or not, ultimately need to "make up for each other's shortcomings and complement each other".

He elaborated: "I guess I felt destined to have someone like that beside me. If I had a very gentle wife, I might not have become what I am now."

'I may live till 120 but I may die tomorrow'

Julian and Anita married in 2001 after a nearly 10-year courtship and Morton was born in 2007. Julian had proposed to Anita in a Singapore hotel, even playing a prank on her during the proposal.

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He shared: "I remember I bought the ring in advance, but I thought it was too easy, so I bought a pair of earrings too.

"She thought the earrings box was a ring and when she opened the box, she was disappointed."

Julian did give her the ring a few minutes later.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Quan Yifong 权怡凤 (@quanyifong)

In the interview, he said that he just wanted "to give her a surprise and create memories with her" and that "he enjoyed teasing her".

When asked what he would say to his wife before he died, he joked: "You got more than enough in life as you have seen so much of me."

Julian also admitted that he often thought about death and his preparations before that: "I am a carefree person but I respect the unpredictability of life. I care about living life to the fullest, and it's not just preparing for performances.

"I may live till 120 but I may die tomorrow, nobody knows. So I make plans while I am still capable of doing so."

Julian added that he wants to give his best to his supporters and prefers not to do new performances if he could not do his best.

As he is not heavy on social media, he agreed to Yi Fong's guess.

Julian said: "Yes, I may just disappear from public life and live a different life."

ALSO READ: 'I poured water on her head': Julian Cheung recounts to Quan Yi Fong on making tutor cry and other mischievous childhood acts

jolynn.chia@asiaone.com