Xu Bin On His Surprise Wedding, His Wife-To-Be And Whether It's Shotgun

Ch 8 actor Xu Bin shocked us all when he announced suddenly that he’s getting married in an Insta post last night.

But for the 28-year-old, his upcoming wedding has been four to five months in the making.

“It’s the biggest event of my life. Of course I want to be fully prepared. I want to make sure everything is ready and done nicely before I make the announcement to the public,” Xu Bin says, his voice with a tinge of anxiety and excitement.

“I was so nervous that I didn’t sleep a wink last night. My phone was ringing nonstop after the announcement, so I didn’t touch it for the rest of the night.”

The star is speaking at Orchard Hotel, where he’s holding a press conference to answer all queries from the media regarding his very surprising impending nuptials. It’s also the venue for his Singapore wedding banquet, where he says he’ll be inviting 250 guests, on Nov 3.

Besides Singapore, Xu Bin will also hold a banquet in his hometown Fujian on Jan 13, and another banquet in his wife-to-be’s hometown Wuhan on Jan 28.

The anxious actor shoots down rumours that it’s a shotgun marriage, saying that he is “happily in love” and that he feels “it’s the right time to get married”.

Xu Bin met his fiancée Evelyn Wang Yi Fei in 2013. However, he had kept the relationship a secret from his boss, Ch 8 host Dasmond Koh, for the first three years as Dasmond had imposed a strict no-dating policy on the artistes in his talent agency NoonTalk Media.

“But I’ve always been the more rebellious one in the company,” laughs Xu Bin. “When I met Yi Fei, I broke the no dating rule because love is something you can’t explain (smiles).”

Thankfully, Dasmond lifted the no-dating rule for Xu Bin and Aloysius Pang last year, and the actor saw it as the right time to tell Dasmond that he’s in a serious relationship.

“I think he was a little shocked but he also dotes on us a lot,” says Xu Bin. “So instead of reprimanding me, he was supportive of it.”

Dasmond, who was also present at the press conference, adds: “I’m someone who looks ahead instead of dwelling on the past. It must have been tough and stressful on Xu Bin to hide it from me for so long.”

He adds: “Since he’s serious about it, I’m happy for him too. To see him get married is akin to me marrying a son off. I welcome a good daughter-in-law into our family (smiles).”

8 DAYS: Congrats on the good news! Tell us more about your fiancée.
XU BIN: Thanks (smiles). She’s from China, and she graduated from the Beijing Film Academy. She’s 27 years old and works in the real estate business with her parents in China. I met her at a friend’s birthday party and fell in love with her as she’s very pretty. We’ve been in a long-distance relationship since and we try to meet up several times a year by flying to and from China but sometimes we don’t get to see each other for three months at a go. It’s been really tough for her but she has been very sweet and understanding about it.

How did you know she’s The One?
She takes really good care of me, and always places me as the priority in her life. She’s very caring and complements me in many ways. I brought her to meet my parents a year after we started dating, and my parents asked me when I’m going to marry her (laughs). That’s when I started thinking about settling down with her. After all, we’ve been through so much together, from having to keep our relationship a secret to trying to maintain a long-distance relationship.

How did you woo her?
She doesn’t talk much and warms up very slowly so I thought she wasn’t that interested in me in the beginning. As she majored in acting, I asked her for tips for my dramas. That’s how we got to talk more and eventually got together. She watches my shows these days and even comments that my acting is very lousy! (Guffaws)

How did you propose to her?
I rented a yacht from [former Ch 8 actor] Darren Lim in Sentosa, and asked [fellow NoonTalk artiste] Kimberly Chia to help me with the decorations. We prepped for it from 5am till 8am in the morning. I lied to Yi Fei that I was going to treat her to a meal on the yacht, so I blindfolded her and brought her there. When we were out at sea, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She was so touched that she cried. As for me, I was so nervous that day that I almost dropped the ring into the sea (laughs).

How did you manage to keep it a secret from everyone for the past few years?
Firstly, we don’t meet that often as we had a long-distance relationship. We went out on dates whenever she was in Singapore but we couldn’t hold hands or do the things couple do in public. It was really difficult. There were times when I wanted to tell my fellow artistes but I couldn’t as I didn’t want the news to spread. I felt guilty towards her for making this relationship so secretive, and I feel so much better now after telling everyone about it.

Some people think that this is a shotgun marriage.
It’s not what you guys think! (Chuckles) I’m going to let nature take its course, but I’d love to have two to three kids in the future.

Does this mean that we will see less of you on TV after you get married?
I don’t have any acting projects at the moment as I want to spend my time preparing for my wedding. We have a condo in Singapore, and a place in Fujian, as well as Wuhan, so we will split our time among the three places. I’ll definitely continue to act after my wedding is over.

Where will you be going for your honeymoon?
We did a pre-wedding shoot in Maldives but we were only there for three days. So I may want to return there for our honeymoon. If not, I’d love to go to Europe as I haven’t been there before!