Stephanie Ho Battles Through Depression
After a two-year hiatus, Stephanie Ho (何雁詩) finally dropped her comeback single “Thoughts of Love” <我會想念他>, the ending theme for the new TVB drama Finding Her Voice <牛下女高音>. It was a comeback that was long overdue; it was also a comeback that made Stephanie wonder if she should still remain a singer.
Two years ago, after confirming her relationship with TVB singer Fred Cheng (鄭俊弘), Stephanie suffered through intense cyber bullying—not only from Fred’s own fans, but also from netizens who believed that Stephanie was the third party that broke Fred’s relationship with Lesley Chiang (姜麗文). The scandal was big enough for Stephanie to get frozen by her record label and agency, and Fred to suffer a decline in his singing and acting career.
But despite all that negativity in their careers, Stephanie and Fred’s relationship blossomed. Stephanie now describes her relationship with Fred as “steady,” even referring Fred as a potential marriage partner. “I believe that anyone who is dating someone would eventually want that relationship to meet that target,” she said. “As for us, we did reach an understanding.”
In the two years that Stephanie was in forced hiatus, she had the time to think. A lot. She developed negative thinking patterns, which in turn just fed into her depression. “So many people were angry, and I thought, maybe it is time for me to retire. Since I’m so horrible, maybe I don’t deserve to live anymore.”
The suicide of Korean star Sulli last month was a tragedy for the Asian entertainment industry, and after reading about the K-pop star’s death being possibly linked to cyberbullying, Stephanie felt even stronger feelings about her passing. “Of course, what happened to me cannot be compared to what Sulli suffered through, but I do believe that it is important to show a little more compassion when you leave comments online. She was so popular, and also so young. It’s impossible to know how much she had to suffer. I really hope that the environment online can get warmer.”
Gossip can be a fearful thing, but after going through it all, Stephanie no longer cares about who to blame. “All I know is that, I’m not dead yet. I’m still here!” Despite her strong exterior, Stephanie said she is actually very soft-hearted. “I do think that I deserve to take some hits. Perhaps it is because I used to be a very straightforward person, as I believe that to be a very important quality. But I also understand that I should be careful with what I say, and I myself can get hurt really easily.”
As for the public finally accepting her relationship with Fred, she said, “I think it’s because they were forced to accept it! Time can prove anything.”
When Stephanie first dropped her new single “Thoughts of Love,” she had her reservations. It was her first single in two years, and she was concerned that the public had stopped caring about her.
“I was afraid of getting scolded again,” she said. “For the past few years I kept getting scolded online, so I was afraid that no one would care to listen my new song.”
But most of all, Stephanie is also worried for her parents. “I know they’re really concerned about my emotional state. (Are you better now?) Uh… (Are you still taking medication?) Let’s stop here!”
Source: Yahoo! HK
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
