Cheryl Wee wants to have a second baby by this year

Cheryl Wee might have welcomed her first child less than a year ago, but the actress-entrepreneur is already making plans to have baby number two.

The 32-year-old spoke to Toggle at the Fresh Takes! press conference held on March 1, where she, despite being a tad under the weather, was more than happy to let us catch up with what she’s been busy with since becoming a missus and mum.

“I’ve been wanting to come back to acting, but I really had to find something that I would be able to commit to,” Cheryl shared as she ticked off the number of things she has on her plate. “Nobody expected that I’d get pregnant so fast after getting married.”

Short film Soul Connection, which was directed by Priscelia Chan and also stars Darryl Yong and Esther Chin, checked all the right boxes as Cheryl only had to film for less than four days.

“I was offered a role in Channel 5’s KIN, but because it’s a longform drama, I really couldn’t commit to the filming schedule so that didn’t work out,” she said.

Cheryl continued that a typical day in her life includes going to work in the mornings, trying to fit a visit back home to see her son Marc in the afternoon, before returning to the office in the afternoon and spending time with her boy again at night.

She confessed that ideally, she’d want to take a step back from her duties in the business, but has been met with a fair share of opposition from her family.

“I talked to my parents about this. My dad was disappointed that I thought that way, and my mum is against the idea as she feels that I shouldn’t step back from something that we have all worked so hard to building all these years,” she mused.

This decision is in part because of her desire to want to spend more time with Marc, whose primary caretaker is the helper that they have at home.

“I really want to have a second baby. My sister and I are only 19 months apart so I’ve always told myself that I want to have another child close to the first, so that while growing up, (Marc) will have someone to play with or bully – whichever way it’ll end up being,” she chuckled. “There aren’t many months left in the year, but hopefully I’ll be able to do it.”

Another change we noticed in Cheryl this time around was how happiness seemed to radiate off her – something we pointed out to her.

“This is definitely the happiest I’ve been,” she gushed. “I never expected it, but having a baby made me happy – really happy. Being married made me happy, and having a baby made me even happier, so right now, I’m the happiest I’ve been in recent years.”

Part of the reason of her happiness is how getting pregnant helped her with loving herself.

“I used to have an eating disorder, and I struggled with wanting to become thinner all the time,” she said. “I’ve overcome that, but this time, when my body changed the way it did when I got pregnant, I really learned to accept and love myself a lot more. I’d say that it was a blessing, one that came totally unexpectedly, but one that I needed.”

Cheryl wasn’t the only one who has been battling her inner demons, as Priscelia Chan shared with us that her health scare wasn’t just a physical, but also an emotional rollercoaster.

While it was initially reported that she had a severe skin allergy to her makeup about two years ago, she would later clarify that it wasn’t that – it was a health issue that she has yet to fully discuss details of, except that she is very much on the mend.

“I’m not fully recovered yet, but I’m definitely much better now,” she said. “I haven’t put on makeup in such a long time, and I put on a special kind today. Hopefully, I won’t suffer the consequences tomorrow (…) It usually only shows up about 12 hours after, so I won’t know until then.”

She documented some parts of her journey in Soul Connection, but shared these messages indirectly as she didn’t write what exactly happened to her in the script.

“I didn’t write it as it happened, but for my cast, I wanted them to understand where I was coming from and why I wanted to convey a specific message. That’s why I told them about what happened to me and showed them photos. I felt that they would be better able to understand that way,” Priscelia explained.

Sharing with us the said photos as well, the 40-year-old revealed that it’s a miracle that she’s been able to recover, “I couldn’t recognise myself at the time, and [through this ordeal] I’ve learned to love and appreciate myself a lot more. If I had received the email about this project two years ago, it might have just been another one of those that I would delete, but because of how I have changed, it sparked my interest and I ended up saying yes.”

By agreeing to this project, it may seem that Priscelia is exposing her vulnerabilities to all, but she doesn’t see it that way. Instead, it’s a celebration of her journey and a way of conveying her message to the world.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever write a script or direct again; it’s something that I enjoyed, but at the same time, if I don’t have a burning message that I want to tell in future, I don’t think it’s something that I would do. My passion still lies in acting, and even though I haven’t been able to say yes to the opportunities that have been given to me, I hope I’ll be able to return to it one day.”

Fresh Takes! debuts March 15, 9pm on Channel U and Toggle.
Soul Connection airs March 29, 9pm on Channel U and Toggle.

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