HK Actor Hopes To Reunite With Long-Lost Son After 20 Years Apart: “I Want To See My Boy Again While I’m Still Alive”
The 73-year-old actor’s son, whom Wai Lit hasn’t seen since he was nine, recently took to social media in search of his father.
Veteran Hong Kong actor Willie Lau, better known by his stage name Wai Lit, recently made headlines after a netizen named Mic claimed to be his long-lost son and took to social media to find him.
Mic posted on Threads a childhood pic showing him as a baby in his father’s arms, hoping the internet could help him reconnect with the man he had lost contact with for 20 years.
“I hope to find my long-lost dad. Friends, please help. My father is Hong Kong supporting actor Wai Lit (Lau Wing Wai). After my parents separated, I saw him a few times,” he wrote.
The 73-year-old actor has rarely spoken about his family. He only revealed in an interview years ago that after his wife passed away, he once fell into depression from overwhelming grief.
So it came as a surprise to many that he has an estranged son who was suddenly looking for him online.
In his post, Mic revealed that years ago, he received a message from Wai Lit inviting him to a birthday banquet, but he chose not to go because Wai Lit had already started another family.
Mic also said that he lost his father’s only phone number over a decade ago and had since been unable to reach him.
Some netizens suggested Mic seek help from TVB programme Scoop and even found what appeared to be Wai Lit’s Facebook profile.
However, since the account had been inactive for years, Mic doubted if it really belonged to his father.
A day later, his post was deleted.
When contacted by the media, Wai Lit, who is also a martial arts choreographer, confirmed that the boy in the photo was indeed his son, now around 28 or 29 years old.
He said: “His name is Lau Ying Fung, English name Michael. I gave him both names. He’s my eldest son.”
Wai Lit went on to explain that he and the boy’s mother, his former girlfriend, parted ways many years ago. She was more than 10 years younger than him and, at the time, too immature.
“After giving birth, she was still very unsettled — she often went out drinking. I was busy with work and couldn’t control her,” he recalled.
He added that his own mother couldn’t accept such a daughter-in-law, so he eventually decided to separate from his partner.
When they split, he asked to raise his son himself. “I said, let my son stay with me and I’ll raise him, but his mother refused,” he shared.
According to Wai Lit, his ex only reached out when she needed money, so he eventually stopped asking to see the boy.
When his son was nine, Wai Lit said they reunited briefly and even lived together for a few weeks.
“One day, his mother suddenly called me and said she wanted to leave our son with me for a few weeks,” he said.
After a few weeks, the boy’s mother took him away again, and they never met since.
Regarding Mic’s claim that he had once invited him to a birthday banquet, Wai Lit denied this, emphasising that he hadn’t seen his son since the boy was nine.
Wai Lit also shared that he had been searching for his son online for over a decade.
“I searched using his Chinese and English names — there are many Michael Laus online, but I couldn’t find any photos of him. Honestly, after all these years, I don’t even know what he looks like now,” he said.
When asked whether he felt guilty that his son grew up without a father, Wai Lit replied: “No.”
Still, Wai Lit admitted he longs to see his son again: “After all, I’m old now. I want to see my boy again while I’m still alive.”
