'At this point I thought it was normal': Kim Lim says she was physically abused by family member at 6 years old

From running her own beauty empire KELhealth to attending glitzy, star-studded events, billionaire heiress Kim Lim is the envy of many. 

The daughter of billionaire Peter Lim is constantly in the limelight and from her social media posts, it's easy to assume that she's had it good all her life. 

So, who would have guessed that Kim had an extremely difficult childhood growing up? 

In a tell-all interview with her friend and influencer Xiaxue that was uploaded on YouTube on Thursday (Nov 9), the 32-year-old opened up about some shocking incidents that not many people know of. 

"Kim had quite a traumatic childhood with abuse in it," revealed Xiaxue. 

Before sharing more, Kim said she did not want to name or blame anybody and has since moved on and forgiven the abuser. 

She also clarified that the person, who is a family member, is not anyone that she is close to now, and neither is it her father. 

Kim revealed that this abuser, who was "drunk a lot", would come back crying and take out their frustrations on her.

And the physical abuse went on for a few years. 

"I was like six or seven," Kim said as she began to tear up. 

Apart from hitting her, the abuser also burned her with cigarettes. 

In fact, some of the burn marks are still visible on her body. 

"She still has scars from it," pointed out Xiaxue.

Kim suspects that the abuser had burned her with cigarettes because they were drunk, or because Kim had shown too much rebellious behaviour towards the person. 

"I really cannot remember much. So, I tried to be a better person, I mean, maybe I wasn't good enough as a kid, I don't know," she said. 

Her father knew about it

Kim's father eventually found out about the abuse. 

"Sometimes I'll call him, screaming," she recounted. 

Kim also thinks that this is one of the reasons why he flew her overseas to a boarding school in London when she was 13. 

"What he could do best for me was to ship me away." 

As a child, Kim couldn't understand why her father would send her so far away from home. 

She had asked him: "Pa, why I so young you ship me away like that [sic]."

In response, her father told her that it was "for her own good" and while she might not understand when she was young, she would when she grew older. 

"Then now, I become a parent and I look back at everything then I'm like okay, I understand why my dad did this for me," said Kim. 

Back when the abuse was still ongoing, Kim had also thought that this was all normal.

"At that point, I thought it was normal. But now I know it's not normal," she said.

And though it was painful to talk about, Kim said Xiaxue had encouraged her to share more about her experiences to help others like her. 

"[Xiaxue] was telling me I shouldn't be shy to share," said Kim.

"Maybe it's a good thing to teach other girls or [others] who are going through this also." 

And while it was an extremely traumatic experience, Kim has chosen to grow from it to become the person that she is today. 

"Everything happens for a reason. So, [it's] another reason why I became so tough today. I guess I can see things in a better perspective now," she said. 

"I used to have this hate inside me. But I think as I grew older, and with my dad's guidance, he taught me how to let go of things, how to compartmentalise those things that are not good for me." 

She found out she was rich because of her parents' divorce

Thanks to her humble upbringing, Kim actually never knew her family was rich. 

"From young, my dad always believed that all kids must grow up normally, go to school, have proper education, mingle around with everybody," she shared.

"I guess that my dad also shaped me to be the person that I am today, to be more down to earth, like you must have good character, treat people with respect. You know, we are all humans, everyone's human, no one is higher than other people." 

When they would go out, the family would also "act like normal" and Peter would teach Kim and her brother how to budget their meal spending.

That was, until her parents' "nasty divorce" got publicised in the news. 

"I found out through my parents' divorce that I actually was quite privileged. I really didn't know." she confessed. 

Apart from wanting to protect her from her abuser, the divorce was probably another reason why her father wanted to send her to study overseas. 

"I feel that because the divorce made me, as a person, so very messy, you know I was very naughty in school and everything," said Kim, adding that her father wanted her to have a "clean start". 

"I think it was a good decision, although then, I said no. But now I look back, I'm like 'thank you, Pa'," she confessed. 

Currently, Kim is in Bangkok to launch her beauty companies — Papilla, Illumia Skin and Illumia Therapeutics. 

Her Instagram Stories reveal that Xiaxue is currently on the trip with her. 

ALSO READ: Twice-divorced Kim Lim wants another kid but now 'scared' of relationships

melissateo@asiaone.com