Natalie Tong Believes in Forever Love

In the blink of an eye, it has been 13 years since Natalie Tong (唐詩詠) debut in the entertainment industry. While her career is on the rise, it is often overshadowed by Natalie’s love life. In a recent interview, Natalie opens up on the struggles she encountered in her career and current relationship with Tony Hung (洪永城). An idealist in love, she hopes that each love relationship would last forever.

Her Hard-won Career

From portraying supporting roles, Natalie has been promoted to lead in TVB drama, Speed of Life <鐵馬戰車>. Natalie reflected that each artiste’s path is different. “Although I had setbacks, I did not despair throughout the waiting process. When I first joined TVB, I already had my fair share of opportunities, especially since I wasn’t part of the TVB acting class. Anyway, everyone deserves to have an opportunity, so I try to avoid comparing with others.”

Natalie added, “I have a lot of faith in Speed of Life, as the entire cast put in a lot of effort when filming. That brings us halfway to success. But the only thing I’m worried about is whether the audience is receptive to this rather abstract part of the drama, similar to the ‘memory palace in the BBC drama, Sherlock. It was difficult to conceptualize and difficult to film. It’s also quite rare in TVB dramas. Although the audience is much more receptive these days, they still tend to resist having such novel concepts in TVB dramas. I hope everyone is able to appreciate it!”

Truly, in the age of the Internet, viewers have been quick to openly criticize dramas during their broadcast. TVB has been particularly targeted by the criticism, constantly receiving a large dose of vitriol from netizens. Natalie expressed that she will read the online feedback objectively, realizing that some viewers leave sincere comments while others are only attention-seekers.

Work life was not always as smooth-sailing for Natalie as her placid demeanor seems to suggest, as she recounted her struggles when filming the period drama, The Short End of the Stick <公公出宮>, “It was really tough, especially since I had never filmed a comedy before and had no idea how to do it.”

That was when Natalie realized the importance of taking a break after filming dramas non-stop for over a decade. Taking a half-year off to study a theater course abroad, Natalie shared excitedly, “I had the chance to shed my celebrity identity. I was also challenged by my tutor, who kept criticizing my lack of acting skills and taught me a new approach to acting. It was there that I re-discovered my passion for acting.

“Actually, after I complete filming for each drama, my health deteriorates a little bit. So now I try to take as much time off as I can…filming from day to night is truly exhausting. I used to be able to do it, and to take on as many as four dramas in one year…or not sleep five days in a row. But now, I can’t…I really need my breaks.”

On Dating Tony Hung and Her Romantic Philosophy

Generally, when female celebrities talk about taking breaks, they do that with plans to get married and start a family. However, Natalie, denied the prospect of marriage being near with Tony Hung. Hoping not to always be pestered about marriage by the public, Natalie chose to keep her romance low profile. Regarding marriage, she said,” No, this is not something we both agreed on…I don’t want to control him!”

Natalie added, “Of course, as a woman, I have dreams of starting my own family and having children. But I still have career goals that I wish to achieve first, including winning TV Queen and being in an iconic production. I hope to give myself at least two years to pursue these goals.”

Natalie then went on to talk about her views on love, ‘Whenever I date someone, I always believe in the idea of ‘forever love’. I guess I’m quite steadfast and persistent. I don’t believe in breaking up over small issues…I don’t believe in exchanging angry words. That will negatively affect your relationship. Angry words are also usually caused by a moment of impulse, which you would generally regret afterwards.”

She described how Tony and her complemented each other, “As a Taurus, I’m quite pragmatic and also stubborn. Sometimes, I just refuse to budge. But he [Tony] is very positive and brings humor to situations. He is able to encourage me to do the things that I really want to do. I guess we’re really quite different. He likes to speak spontaneously, including on social media, whereas I tend to cool off and think for very long before I speak or reply, especially when I am provoked by certain critical posts or comments I see online. And each time after I calm down, I would realize that whatever I was upset by was not really an issue after all!”

Natalie admitted candidly that her differences with Tony did sometimes cause arguments between the couple, “I like to insist on my own views and would try to persuade him to take my point of view. But he also likes to stick to his point of view. So we often go on and on about the same issues and have to very slowly work things out. Also, I may seem calm most of the time, but I do have moments of flaring up as well, although I quickly become fine again after that.”

Finally, Natalie talked about the issue of jealousy, “I don’t believe in checking my boyfriend’s phone or his whereabouts. I also don’t know his passwords. I don’t think that is right. Mutual trust is very important. Honestly, I don’t mind [Tony’s] rumors with Priscilla Wong (黃翠如). I have always known that he and Priscilla are old friends. If you’ve seen them interact away from the spotlight, you would find it impossible to be jealous. I often have to play the role of mediator between the two of them and encourage them to stop bickering with each other!”

Natalie was also quick to add, “Some people like to compare [Tony] with my ex-boyfriend [Amigo Choi 崔建邦)], but I don’t think that’s fair to either of them. I am very thankful for each individual I meet that has helped me grow.”

Source: stheadline.com

This article is written by Jingles for JayneStars.com.