Yoyo Mung’s Troubled Youth; Half-Sister’s Suicide a Turning Point
After dating for 6 years, Yoyo Mung (蒙嘉慧) and Ekin Cheng (鄭伊健) will finally be getting married. Yoyo and Ekin fell in love after playing badminton together. Yoyo was accused to be the third person that had ruined Ekin ‘s relationship with his former girlfriend, Gigi Leung ( 梁咏琪). These malicious rumors did not affect Yoyo due to her tough personality. She continues to pursue her acting career and is focused on developing a solid relationship with Ekin, with the romance finally baring fruits.
Yoyo deserves all the happiness after going through many struggles in her life. In a recent interview, she shared her heart-felt stories about her unhappy childhood experiences, being a troubled teenage girl, and her philosophy of being honest.
Unhappy Childhood and Strict Mother
Yoyo revealed she had a very unhappy childhood and was a troubled teenager. She was sent to live with her grandparents in Yuen Long at a very young age. When Yoyo was 11 years old, she was finally sent back to live with her mother. Since Yoyo was not a good student and received poor grades, her strict mother would often scold and punish her. Yoyo remembered one time she took her younger sister to play at the park after school, and her mother was very upset and yelled at her so loud while holding and twisting her ear so hard that it bled.
Yoyo loved to read novels since elementary school. One time she borrowed a novel, The Blood Curse <血咒>–the third installment of renown science fiction series, The Legendary Ranger (原振俠)–from the school library. Yoyo’s mother yelled and told her to focus on her studies, not to waste her time reading books associated with evil. After a spanking, her mother tore the book into pieces, and Yoyo had to use her allowance to pay for a replacement.
Teenage Angst
Yoyo did not have a happy time during her high school years. She had moved from Yuen Long to Kowloon and attended a few different schools. Yoyo remembered her classmates locked her out from the classroom during lunchtime, and she had to wait outside for a long period of time until the teacher came to open the door for her. Yoyo was teased and bullied by her classmates due to her uncommon last name “Mung” and they poked fun at her dark skin and thick eyebrows. She was considered to be ugly and no one wanted to be friends with her.
Spending most of her time alone or reading novels, Yoyo described herself as an introvert. The school’s social worker thought she had problems and often spent time listening and talking to her.
When Yoyo was 14 years old, her younger half-sister (from the same mother but a different father) committed suicide by jumping off a building. This tragedy changed her life, and she started to come out of her shell. Yoyo said, “The last time I saw my sister, she gave me a photo and left a message on the back of it. She told me to never forget her. Two months later, she killed herself because she was unhappy at home with her new family.”
Yoyo said she did not think her sister was wrong by killing herself at that time, but her suicide had caused a lot of sadness in the family. After this tragic incident, Yoyo began to open up her feelings to others, and she became a more cheerful person.
Honest and Straightforward Personality
When Yoyo was young, her mother was very strict with her. If she did something bad, her mother punished her by hitting or slapping her. Therefore, Yoyo needed to protect herself by lying to her mother. She said, “If I didn’t finish my homework, I would still tell her the homework was done. If my mother found out the truth, I would get a severe beating afterward.”
After Yoyo became older, she realized once she started lying, she had to continue to tell more lies to cover herself. Yoyo said, “ It’s very hard to be a liar; I would rather be blunt instead of telling a lie. Life is simpler and easier to tell the truth.”
Yoyo’s past experiences in her childhood and teenage years have influenced her to become a straightforward and honest person. Whenever she is asked about negative news or rumors, or questions about her acting career, Yoyo will not be afraid to tell the truth. She said, “My personality is straightforward, and I will tell the truth without holding back.”
Yoyo revealed she had worked many side jobs before starting her acting career. She worked at an advertising company and even made an appearance in a Category III (equivalent to “R-rated” in the United States) movie. Yoyo was very open and honest speaking about her experiences. She said,”I wasn’t born with a silver spoon. I needed to eat, so I had to work at many jobs to survive.”
The impact of Yoyo’s life experiences made her a very strong person and a survivor. Despite the negativity in her childhood and troubled teenage years, Yoyo re-focused her path in life and forged a successful acting career. Most importantly, Yoyo ‘s dream of marrying her true love has finally come true.
Source: QQ.com
This article is written by Lance for JayneStars.com.
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That’s so sad about her half-sister.
Yoyo is a strong woman! Really like this article as I realised I don’t really know much about Yoyo.
Nicole,
I always find a deep sadness in Yoyo’s eyes. Her mother’s harsh ways gave her a miserable childhood, as given by the example of the unreasonable display of anger in shredding Yoyo’s book.
Yoyo made the best of her life, as she could have easily derailed after her half-sister’s suicide, but she made a choice to not continue to live in negativity.
It was not mentioned in this article, but from an older interview I read, Yoyo expressed deep love for her grandma. Her grandma apparently loved her in a way that her mother was unable to.
Jayne,
Do you remember when that article about Yoyo’s grandmother was from? I would like to read that.
For all that talk about harsh or difficult childhoods from celebrities, Yoyo’s childhood is one of the harsher ones I’ve read. No wonder she seems less idealistic about marriage and kids in all her interviews. Anyone who had been through what she did, will probably feel the same apprehension.
Her past hard life makes her what she is now. Its good she makes her life positive and successful. Not a fan of her but look at her now in different light.
Sometimes it is the grandparents that provide the love that our parents are unable to.
So proud of yoyo to come forward and tell her stories about her childhood. Many people would rather hide it or block the bad memories of the past. I too always see her sadness in her eyes. She also look like she has trust issues. Hopefully her second half lof her life will be a happy one.
man yoyo did not look good when she was in high school
Appearance doesn’t warrant being teased and bullied.
Good to know she survived a cruel mother and cruel classmates.
what a wrenching childhood story.Wish Yoyo happy forward, especially after she married Ekin.
That’s sad hearing about her sis. Wish Ekin n YoYo all best.
I am so happy that Yoyo is one of my favourite actresses!! She’s such a good role model to look up to! I hope her marriage with Ekin will be filled with blessings and that Ekin will treat her well!
Wow…. Wish her all the happiness in the world…
Wish Yoyo and Ekin happy forever. All the BEST
Wow. I feel so sorry for her. I like her even more after this. She’s such a strong person! Goodluck to her and Ekin!
Ekin better treat her right after marriage. Yoyo deserves happiness.
Take that, you ex-classmates!!! Be jealous, be very jealous!
I never really liked her, but now I do!
Lol, uhm, she was never really my favorite actress, however, this article shows she has very good personality. About whether I would like her better as an actress? Maybe she will grow on me in some later series :p
Poor Yoyo!! That’s why i hate haters that bully other ppl! Don’t judge a person by their appearance. But unfortunately most ppl do.
So why you are bullying Kate and judge her by the so-called rape scene on screen? Don’t bite your lips :P.
wow, this explains why she is OK w/having no kids in the future. interesting really b/c sometimes stuff like these really makes you think you have to be happy for yourself not just for the general public of 2 1/2 kids to be happy.
Every celebrity has his/her own sob story. Ada Choi was also teased mercilessly by her school mates for being skinny as a beanpole and a head taller than most of her peers; their bullying made her feel like a freak then. And of course, there’s the angst over her mother’s gambling addiction.
The thing is she and Yoyo and other tvb artists managed to overcome all that adversity to become a better person. Salute!
May your life continue to be in the sunlight, and I hope your mom now can stop at leaset be nice to you.
Hard works do pay off ^^
This personal interview with Yoyo was very enlightening. While I’m not a fan, I do think she can act with the right script and character. I really liked her performance in The Green Hope.
I am surprised by the amount of hardships that a lot of actors have faced in their past. Glad to see they’ve overcome them and achieved success and happiness in life.
Maybe the hardships they faced in the past made them resilient and able to withstand the hardship in the entertainment industry.
OMG, speaking of that series ‘the green hope’ its one of my favorites from TVB. and of course, these kind of educational, sentimental series HK ppl do not enjoy so it was never really popular but i loved it. Stephen Fung was awesome in it along w/bowie tsang and this yo yo girl even thou at the time i didnt even know her name. The worse who acted in this series was ‘Joey Yung’ she acted worse than that girl who married a super rich guy now. anyway, would love to rerun it but cant find it anywhere :0(
Thanks so much for this article about Yoyo. I always sensed a sadness in her eyes too. Your eyes really are the window to your soul for they reveal so much.I am happy that Yoyo survived her tough life and is able to be successful and will have a happy life now. She is truly a good role model for others to look up to. The one good thing is these harsh events in life are what make you into who you are today. It is great when something positive happens instead of just negativity. Best wishes to Yoyo and Ekin and hope that their wedding will be a blast!!
What a crazy mother. Seriously needed to see a psychiatrist.
wow did not expect her to have such a tragic childhood. she’s so smiley and happy now. so glad that she was able to succeed in life despite all the obstacles she had to get over.
wishing her and ekin true happiness in the many years to come!
Always like Yoyo but now like her even more knowing what she been through! May she find happiness with Ekin for sure!