Sharon Au is grieving the loss of her dad, who died on Christmas Day after an illness. He was 74.

In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao yesterday (Jan 4), the 48-year-old, who's based in Paris, told the Chinese daily that she'd immediately booked a flight back upon learning of her dad's death and cried the entire journey on the plane.

Upon landing in Singapore, however, the host-actress had to rehearse for her upcoming theatre production Everything For You.

"So as to not cause any delays to the production, I held it in and persevered. After the filming ended, I broke down and continued crying in the car," said Sharon.

She told Zaobao that her father Jeffrey Au was a former discipline master at St Andrew's Secondary School and often gave talks in other schools to dissuade students from joining gangs.

Before this, he had worked in the Secret Societies Branch of the police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and was involved in busting multiple secret society gangs in the '80s and '90s.

Sharon had shared on social media on Jan 3 that she was still receiving messages from those who knew him.

"I am still receiving an outpour of messages from people who wrote about what an inspiring, fierce but kind discipline master with a wicked sense of humour you were, how your anti-gang talks prevented them from going astray," she recounted.

"You said, 'If you want to join a gang, join the biggest and strongest gang of all, the Singapore Police Force. They said you were a legend. The legend in white. I'm so proud of you Dad."

As to the latter reference, Sharon fondly recalled in the Zaobao interview how her dad used to love dressing in all-white when she was a child.

She had also been told how passionate he was about his anti-gang drive and helping to prevent students from falling prey to them. His efforts had earned him the nickname GOAT, or 'greatest of all time' and a "legend".

"I didn't have time to tell him how proud I am of him and how much I love him," she told Zaobao.

She added: "I look a lot like him, right? The eyes, nose, and even the ears… I also inherited his sense of humour."

Once used 'CID tactics' to find her

Sharon had shared in previous interviews how she was estranged from her divorced parents during her growing up years and put under the care of relatives.

Her dad would visit her once a month to take her out for fast food.

She told Zaobao that one of her most indelible memories of her dad was when he came looking for her after she was often out late studying at a nearby community centre (CC), returning home at around midnight.

Her aunt, who suspected that she was being led astray, notified her mum who then contacted her dad to teach her a lesson.

"He must have used his legendary 'CID tactics' to find me. One night he just dashed into the room on the second floor of the CC, just like how they do it in the dramas, only to find 10 pairs of eyes staring back at him," said Sharon.

"He realised then that we were just revising our homework. I'll always remember his expression. He's used to mixing with hooligans, but with us bookworms, he was the one who got a fright instead."

Father and daughter then went for a drink at a nearby coffee shop, where he encouraged her to study hard.

"I'll never forget that short amount of time we spent together drinking coffee. Dad was so handsome yet comical," she reminisced.

In a heartbreaking Instagram Story post yesterday, Sharon shared the last text she'd sent her dad on Christmas Eve wishing him a "merry Christmas".

Over the image, she captioned: "Dad? You there? No reply." 

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candicecai@asiaone.com

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