Xiang Yun on deaths of close celeb friends: 'Not everyone walks with you to the end'

For the many of us who grew up watching SBC and TCS drama series, Lin Liyun was a familiar face on the telly.

But to local veteran actress Xiang Yun, Liyun was a bosom sister she got close with since 1981 ⁠— more than half her life.

So when Liyun died of pneumonia on Dec 14 at age 58, she was heartbroken.

Xiang Yun, also 58, told AsiaOne recently: "We had a very close friendship because we went for performing lessons together every day from 1981 to 1983. We learnt ballet, Broadway, and guitar. She was very quiet but we could talk about a lot of things."

After her death, Xiang Yun went through her own belongings to look for old photos of Liyun, but most were lost when Xiang Yun moved homes. She then scanned through episodes of an old drama that they acted in before, and to her shock, found a scene that saddened her even more.

"It was a scene from our 1988 drama Heiress, where she played my sister. There were four of us in that scene: myself, Liyun, Huang Wenyong who played my husband, and Wang Xiuyun who played my nanny."

She added, her voice changing, "And three of them are now gone."

Watching that show again, even a couple of episodes, stirred up a well of emotions within her, Xiang Yun said.

"More than a quarter-century has passed since the drama… time passes really fast. So many actors from the series are not around anymore, not just Liyun, Xiuyun, and Wenyong. Liang Baozhu and Dai Peng have also died," she said.

Wenyong, who was Xiang Yun's most notable screen partner since their first drama The Awakening in 1984, died in 2013 at age 60 after battling lymphoma. Dai Peng also died from lymphoma that same year; he was 75 years old.

Xiuyun, another veteran artiste, died in 2017 at age 72 from kidney failure. There is no information available online on when exactly Baozhu died.

Xiang Yun added pensively: "Oh my God, is life really that short? I realised not everyone walks with you to the end. It's so scary and very sad.

"Of course we understand concepts of sheng lao bing si (a Chinese phrase referring to the four stages of life: birth, ageing, illness, death), but there are still many things that we find hard to let go of in life.

"But we can also look at it from another more beautiful perspective, and that is they have fulfilled their responsibilities in this life, and they can rest."

It made her appreciate the impermanence of life and enjoy the present.

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Three years ago, Xiang Yun experienced a scary health crisis.

She said she used to be as strong as a bull — she hardly fell sick and could go for days without sleep.

But all of a sudden, things changed. While filming the Chinese drama Peace & Prosperity in 2016, she found that the front of her clothes would often be wet.

"I didn't know why until one day during lunch, I realised I was drooling unknowingly! I called my doctor immediately, and during a check-up, she found that the left side of my face was drooping," she recalled.

She went for acupuncture treatment on the spot, fell sick the next day, and slept for 24 hours straight.

Nevertheless, she dove straight into work again, and some time later, her health took a huge beating.

Her urinary tract was infected, her lymph nodes were swollen, stones were found in her salivary glands, and she had sinus congestion. Doctors told her that all her illnesses were largely a result of hormonal issues.

Thankfully, after a few months of medication, she recovered fully.

"I think stress and anxiety are sometimes the cause. When I see friends who are stressing over something, I tell them to relax and not to worry, everything will be fine."

Catch Xiang Yun in the new Channel 8 drama Happy Prince, where she plays a mother who abandons her son who has Tourette syndrome (portrayed by Romeo Tan).

The series is available on meWATCH (formerly Toggle) from Jan 13, and also on Channel 8 from Jan 15, 9pm.

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kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com