Michelle Ye on Lack of Fatherly Support During Youth: “I Think He Was Toughening Me Up”
Many people may know that Michelle Ye (葉璇) entered the entertainment industry after winning the Miss Chinese International beauty pageant at the age of 19, and that she has since developed into a successful actress and producer. Since her father is a successful businessman, some might even assume that her success is due to his unwavering monetary support. In a recent appearance on the talk show Up Close <非常靜距離>, however, Michelle shared about her difficulties growing up in the United States, especially under the apathetic care of her father.
After Michelle’s parents divorced when she was nine, her father brought her to live with him in New York. Four years later, she moved out of the house, with no support from her father apart from $500 USD each month for her living expenses, half of which she had to fork over for rent.
“My father lived in a top-quality apartment in Manhattan, but he didn’t look after me,” she revealed. “When I was thirteen, I was already living in Brooklyn, which is mostly populated by blacks.” Michelle shared an apartment with multiple tenants.
Since Brooklyn is known for its high crime rate, the hostess of Up Close was shocked and wondered how any father could allow his daughter to live in such a dangerous area. Michelle replied, “You’d have to ask him. I think of it as if he were toughening me up.”
Although her response seems matter-of-fact, Michelle betrayed a hint of sadness when she shared that her father never visited her after she moved out, except when he gave her money each month. She recalled, “When I moved out, I asked if he wanted my address or telephone number, but he said there was no need.”
Her father’s tough-love approach, however, appears to have sparked an independence and thirst for success that have proved invaluable in Michelle’s later life. She shared that, in order to win the approval of others, she vowed to become number one in whatever she did. When in school, she often achieved the highest scores, which ultimately led to her becoming valedictorian of her high school. Her decision to participate in the Miss Chinese International competition also stemmed from her desire to gain her father’s approval.
Michelle’s diligence has carried on to her career in the entertainment industry. Although other stars might settle for a thriving acting career, she chose to establish her own production company in early 2011 as well. Moreover, she serves as the Vice President of the Hengdian Film Association and the Chairwoman of the Zhejiang Dongyang Bohai Entertainment Company.
Currently, Michelle is thriving as both an actress and a producer. Her recent drama, Loved in the Purple <紫釵奇緣>, which reunited her with rumored ex-boyfriend Raymond Lam (林峯), was well received, and she is set to appear in upcoming series like Pandora’s Secret <潘多拉的秘密> and The Virtuous Queen of Han <大漢賢后衛子夫>. Although she expressed that she envied Raymond’s success in both work and love, she acknowledged that her current focus should be on making money, in order to bolster the reputation of her relatively new production company. The path to further success may not be easy for Michelle, but she has proven that she is tough enough to break through any setbacks and get where she wants to be.
Source: 3 Weekly via ihktv.com
This article is written by Joanna for JayneStars.com.
Wow!!’ She is so independent and now she is so successful.
Yea, she is a good role model and I hope that many are inspired by her. I wonder how her relationship with her father is now? I heard that it was better after her step mother entered the picture.
so glad she is successful now~~
her father was very….
I like Michelle from watching Eternal Happiness. I think she should take things step by step. Slow down and look at the people around are they your true friends or enemies.
props to michelle ye for being such a successful person! I miss seeing her in tvb =[
I don’t think it is tough love. I think the father is those that cares zero for his child as long as he pays his money. What a jerk father.
agree with u
Agree that her father is a first-class jerk. I wonder why nothing was mentioned about her mother? It’s so sad to hear she has to fend for herself at the young age of 13. She did not elaborate on those years she had to share an apartment with multiple tenants. I shudder to think what she may have to go through alone without any protector.
In case you did not know, I heard that her mom got tired of taking care of her so sort abandoned her when she was around 9. Then her grandparents took care if her until they went back to china since they could not adapt to life in the US. I agree that her father was not a good father but her biological mother is not any better. I also heard that her step mom treats her well and because of her, Michelle’s relation with her father is now better. Heard that it was her step mom that encouraged her to participate on the pageant.
sounds like her stepmom is not wicked at all!
@HTS, thanks for the info. Michelle really had a tough childhood 🙁 Hopefully the emotional upheaval she had to go through will not affect her too much (like Cecilia who kinda turn wild and couldn’t control her emotions most of the time due to insecurity).
Luckily she had her stepmom and thank god she isn’t evil. That’s the only credit to be given to the father. Hope Michelle’s biological mum won’t come looking for her now that she has attained some measure of success in her career.
First class jerk. With her out of the way he could bring in females to his apartment at his leisure.
Agree – very selfish and heartless dad.
Poor kid.
I am sure there are inner vulnerable scars as a price to pay, though it’s great she used those vulnerabilities as motivation to move on with strength.
Her trust in relationships and responsible men can’t be very high.
$500 a month? That’s worse than a Cdn govt welfare check, and coming from a parent. I think they get something like $675 … where $375 goes to rent.
Also curious why her mom didn’t bother. Bec normally moms are the ones who choose to take on the child.
Was she as selfishly heartless as dad, or was forced out of the parenting picture?
Nomad 822,
I believe Michelle’s mom was staying in mainland China when Michelle and her dad moved to New York.
I heard that her mom is even more selfish and just literally abandoned since she got tired of taking care of her due to her dad always working. I heard she said something like she wanted her dad to experience taking care of their child. At first her paternal grandparents took care of her and then they returned to China due to not being able adapt to life in the US. Then it all happened like this.. Glad that Michelle became successful in spite of all this. I feel some others may have led a troublesome life without parental care and supervision.
Isn’t 13 years old a bit too young to live alone? Still a kid at that time, wouldn’t it be illegal?
Guess no one knew about it. She was probably renting under her father’s name and as long as she was paying rent, guess no one cared.
I know right….also, a successful businessman and letting a minor live in a place w/multiple tenants and $500 allowance? His dad is fortunate for not getting arrested for leaving a minor at home alone forever.
I heard the age limit for staying home alone is 12 so they were fine.
Michelle has always comes across as an independent and strong woman. Hope she’ll find time for her own happiness, too.
She’s a decent actress. I do like her productions. Michelle has brought something new to the plate. She shows great details in her series.
Her dad is crazy for doing that… He wanted his space and didn’t want a daughter around. She could have gotten hurt or worse.
Excellence has always been achieved by those who dared believe that something inside them is superior to circumstances. Believe in yourself which you did, Michelle. Bravo!!
this great beauty lady achieved so much success in everything…she seem to have everything under her wing..power, fame, fortune and infinity energy… but quite hard for her to find compatible man who is same par as her…
Regardless of how bad her dad was,it was still her dad and as she mentioned, she still yearned for his attention and approval. I heard that her relationship with her is a lot better now because of her step mother who treats her well.
It is not only hard to be a parent but even a role as a child is quite complicated at times.
On the bright side, she’s a resilient child. She didn’t let her childhood bring her down and now she is one successful lady. And may she continue to be successful 🙂
An older version of Michelle Ye the famous Michelle Yeoh
Why would you say that? What similarities?
Yeah Kiwi, what are the similarities? They lead different lives with the exception of being beauty queens prior to getting involved in acting.
Tough luck.
I think this is a fine article except for the implication that a neighborhood with many Black people is dangerous. It seems like she left herself, not that she got kicked out. I must admit this: I’m glad she’s made it this far, but she seems like she would have been a pain to raise, like the smart a$$ type. LOL When you couple the need for freedom (which is different from independence) with youth…that tends to not fly well with very Asian parents.
Of course, her parents could have just been jerks.
” implication that a neighborhood with many Black people is dangerous.”
Well it is maybe prejudice but truthfully there is some truth in that statement. That is honesty and not some BS political social correctness.
Sorry, not folded but merged.
I was born and raised in the US and can see why many would be prejudice against blacks. I personally have had good and bad experiences with blacks, however, I must admit that I have had more negative experiences with blacks. The blacks that I have met were bold, aggressive, etc… But of course not everyone is like that. I have noticed that the ones that are from Africa are generally nicer, kind, passive, more calm,etc…. Basically, it does vary from person to person but I guess in general living in a neighborhood full of blacks can be scary.
Funn, you are right, it is prejudice and not an uncommon sentiment, actually. I was also born and raised in the USA and I have a pretty diverse group of friends and associates mainly just due to the area I’m from. In my experience, the only people who were really hurtful to me were other Asian Americans, but that was social class and cultural difference.
What I meant to note but forgot to write was that perhaps it could have been stated that she lived in Brooklyn which was a high crime area – not that it simply had a high Black population therefore it was deduced that they were the perpetrators of the crime. AND HeTieShou is right, even some African immigrants would find offense to the pan-label of all dark skinned people.
Honestly, any kind of unfamiliarity is scary, for all of us, me included. I don’t think Michelle is a prejudiced person per se, but Asia as a whole, generally tends to be wary of African Americans, and it is more acceptable and less sensitive to politically say this out loud. It’s just that, I, as a minority American and critical race theory student, just happened to be reading it. ::shrugs::