Steven Ma Writes About His Darkest Hours in “Life Meets Death”

After losing his mother due to an on-going battle with cancer in 1999, Steven Ma (馬浚偉) locked himself away and fell into a depression. During his darkest hours, Steven had strong suicidal tendencies to end his pain.

Steven said he initially thought about taking his own life so his mother wouldn’t have to die alone. Recalling the very day, Steven admitted that he opened the window and was prepared to jump. Steven said the most dangerous part of the entire ordeal was that he wasn’t even fully aware of what he was doing.

Remembering His Mother

After that traumatizing incident, Steven slowly healed over the years. He has even written a stage play, Life Meets Death <生前約死後>, in dedication to his mother. Inviting Josephine Koo (顧美華) to play his mother, Steven said that the actress resembled his mother when she was younger.

In the play, Steven incorporated all the things he wanted to tell his mother despite not having been able to before her death. He said, “I really wanted her to tell me that she wasn’t in pain during surgery and when she left. I think sons and daughters worry about this the most.”

Unable to control his tears while talking about his late mother, Steven said this was a reoccurring issue when he was writing his stage play. Every so often, he would get too emotional and would have to stop writing. Steven even told the cast and crew, “If I lose my control on stage, don’t worry about me – just continue acting.”

Making His Mother Proud

Revealing that his mother was really proud of her children before she left the world, she often talked to her neighbors during her stay at the hospital. Hoping to continue to make his mother proud, Steven has accomplished a variety of different things over the last two decades.

After leaving TVB, Steven went on to doing his own projects. Besides writing and acting in his own stage-play, Steven is currently taking part in a television program that centers around a vast number of real-life subjects such as immigration, the under privileged, and the homeless.

As well, he finished taking a barista training course this year and became certified to teach other barista hopefuls. Steven said he has interests to open up his own coffee shop to welcome other coffee enthusiasts.

He is currently enrolled in a Master’s program for Business Administration and stays in Beijing for eight days a month for his coursework. While most artistes stay in the filming industry after leaving TVB, Steven hopes to make achievements in other fields outside of acting.

Steven said he will agree to film for TVB if time permits. Although admitting that he didn’t leave the station on good terms with executive Virginia Lok (樂易玲), Steven said they resolved their differences and he now has a very good relationship with her. Unable to leave behind his years of memories at TVB, Steven could never really leave his home and his colleagues such as Bobby Au yeung (歐陽震華).

Source: Ming Pao Weekly

This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.