Joey Wong Once Said She Can’t Finish Spending All Her Money In One Lifetime
No, you don't have to worry about the financial situation of the retired star, who left showbiz almost 20 years ago.
Almost two decades ago, former Taiwanese actress Joey Wong said goodbye to showbiz and hello to a low-key, low-stress life in Canada. However, the public’s interest in the 53-year-old remains high (mostly thanks to her ageless beauty), and some fans have apparently even expressed worry about her financial status.
“A female celebrity with no acting roles or endorsements, who was not born nor married into a wealthy family, has no inheritance, and has been living alone abroad for 16 years. Does she really not lack money?” reads one concerned comment.
She doesn’t seem like she’s concerned about money, at least
One Taiwanese media outlet stepped up to try and answer the question by analysing her possible earnings over the years. They began by pointing out that Joey appeared in 15 films from 1985 to 1987, including the one that propelled her to fame, Tsui Hark’s 1987 classic A Chinese Ghost Story (and to think the director said she wasn’t his first or even second choice for the role).
If their info is to be believed, she was paid HK$50,000 (S$8,600) for each of those projects, which adds up to HK$750,000 (about S$129,000) for three years of work.
A Chinese Ghost Story also starred the late Leslie Cheung
The hard-working Joey took on another 15 films from 1988 to 1989, and she was paid a lot more for them this time due to her increased star power. She was said to command HK$450,000 to HK$500,000 (S$77,400 to S$86,000) per picture, fattening her bank account with an additional HK$7mil (S$1.2mil).
After 1994, Joey cut down on her workload to focus on quality instead of quantity. She churned out just a handful of movies in 1997, 2001, and 2004, and then withdrew from the entertainment industry entirely.
Joey and Ng Man Tat in 1989’s God of Gamblers
Naturally, Joey was an advertising darling in her heyday as well. Once, a Japanese sake company approached her to endorse their products, a gig that netted her a cool 40mil yen (S$512,000) and reportedly set the record for the highest paid foreign celebrity brand ambassador in Japan at that time.
The cameras just loved her
And then there were her lucrative real estate investments. Not long after she entered showbiz, Joey invested in a beauty salon, shops, and a NT$3mil (S$142,000) house. Then, in 1988, she bought a NT$6mil (S$284,000) three-storey villa in Taipei’s Tianmu neighbourhood, sinking in millions more for renovations.
Joey snapped up buildings in Hongkong as well, including a HK$13mil (S$2.2mil) mansion which rose in value by HK$1mil (S$172,000) just one month after she bought it (so can you imagine how much it’s probably worth now?). She is also rumoured to own property in China, the United States, Canada, and even Europe.
If this is all true, then we guess it’s safe to say that Joey is nowhere near needing to lose sleep over financial problems. In fact, she was once quoted as saying in the ‘90s: “The money I have in my hand right now can't be used up in one lifetime.”
She’s living the dream life
Photos: Joey Wong/Instagram, 王祖贤微博粉丝会/Weibo, IMDb
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