My mother died at 60, having spent most of her life looking after everyone except herself. I was 31, with two young children, when I began wondering if I was heading down the same path. My mother was a typical traditional Chinese mum. She rarely expressed her love in words,
I had just given birth to my first child, and the last thing I wanted was visitors. I was in pain, emotionally overwhelmed, and simply wanted to be left alone. But my father came to the hospital every day. It was 2006, and I was recovering from childbirth at Mount
I was 14 when my best friend invited me to Marina Square for a shopping trip. I wore my favourite white baby-doll dress. I was looking forward to spending time shopping with my best friend. I had no idea I would return home with that dress torn, bruises on
"I can’t even shuffle cards smoothly with two hands!" That's something people often tell me after watching me perform magic tricks using only my left hand. Their reactions always make me smile. What they don't see are the countless hours I have spent
Receiving an award should have been a happy moment. For me, it was something I feared. During secondary school, I was among the top 10 students academically. I worked hard and received awards for my achievements. But some of my classmates laughed at me and teased me because of my
At about 9.30 on the morning of 18 July 2025, I bought my 97-year-old father a bowl of black sesame paste. Six hours later, he was dead. My father lived in a three-room HDB flat along Bendemeer Road in Singapore. Since my mother passed away in
When I was a child, there was one simple thing I could never do properly. I could never separate a mosquito coil without breaking it. No matter how carefully I tried to pull the two spirals apart, one of them would snap. Sometimes both would break. My father could do
"I believe in miracles. As long as Xavier wants to fight, I will continue fighting with him." I remember saying those words to the doctor while my twenty-year-old son lay unconscious in the Intensive Care Unit at the National University Hospital in Singapore. Xavier was connected
When I was a little girl, my best friend was a toy penguin. It had a rubber button that made a funny quipping sound when I pressed it. I would pull it along behind me as I wandered through a big house on a hill. The house was filled with
Recently, I visited my father at the nursing home. He looked at me, but he could not remember my name. I waited, hoping that something would click in his memory. It was only after a nurse prompted him that he finally recognised me. I had known for years that this
It was almost 11pm when a Taiwanese woman invited my husband, our two young daughters, and me to follow her into the mountains. She said she owned a tea plantation. What could possibly be so interesting about tea leaves in the dark? That was my first thought. My second was
My fatness brought me fame, glory, money, and plenty of admirers. Yes, you read that correctly. Hi, I am Sharmilah, your Fat Diva. And I have always been proud to be fat and fabulous! I was once chosen to model alongside China's top 40 models at an F1