Ferlyn G Went Through A Bad Break-Up While Filming New Mediacorp Drama; Had Plans To Marry The Guy, Whom She Later Found Out Was Cheating On Her

Many would know that local actress Ferlyn Wong, aka Ferlyn G, had spent the better part of her twenties in South Korea working on her career as a K-pop idol. 

In new Mediacorp drama I Do, Do I?, the 31-year-old plays a Korean who marries into a Singapore family and the role provides her with the perfect opportunity to showcase her impressive command of Korean.

Ferlyn’s character, Yi Hwa, is ditched by her Korean boyfriend at the start of the 20-episode series. 

She then meets Singaporean white-collar worker Mah Kah Poh (played by Tyler Ten) who is on a business trip in Korea.

The pair fall in love, get married, and before you know it, it’s seven years later and Yi Hwa is living in Singapore with Kah Poh, their seven-year-old son, and an overbearing mother-in-law (played by Aileen Tan). 

Yi Hwa longs to visit home along with her son so he can better understand her culture but the stress of being alone in a foreign land and in a transnational relationship starts getting to her. She soon finds herself navigating the cracks forming in her marriage.

If you’ve been keeping up with the show, which is now midway through its run, you would’ve realised that a good portion of Ferlyn’s lines are in Korean. 

During a phone call with the actress late last month, 8days.sg finds out that Ferlyn was surprised by the “substantial amount of Korean” she had to speak for the drama.

“I’ve always been a follower of K-dramas so I did not need to brush up on my Korean. I would say that now, my Korean is actually better than when I was living in Korea,” says Ferlyn.

“I feel that learning a language is based on confidence. Sometimes, you can say the wrong thing, but if you try, people will correct you and that’s when you learn. But when I was in Korea, I couldn’t speak up because I couldn’t make mistakes, especially because of the whole seniority thing. I might sound rude if I were to say things wrongly. There was a fear of that, so I would rather not speak the language. [Since] I didn't speak it, my Korean didn’t improve. I became much more comfortable speaking Korean when I came back to Singapore, when I was around my friends.”

8DAYS.SG: Have you dated anyone from another country?

FERLYN G: No leh, all my exes are Singaporean. When I was in Korea, we didn’t really date. [My agency] didn’t allow us to. 

Are you open to dating guys from overseas though?

I am but I think I’m more attracted to Asians, so maybe not ang mohs. (Laughs) They don’t need to speak Chinese well. As long as we can communicate in English it’s fine. 

Yi Hwa’s ex looks down on her and dumps her. Do you have any experiences with toxic exes?

I mean there are… (bursts into laughter) Unfortunately, I have a fair bit of toxic exes. It’s quite sad but I’m alright lah. I learn from my experiences… find a better one next time (chuckles). 

How toxic were they?

It sounds silly to say it out loud, but those few lor, like cheating and lying. 

There was one whom I thought was gonna be my future husband, but it didn’t work out. The reason it didn’t work out wasn’t because of a fight, or because it was a bad relationship. I only found out after the break-up that he cheated on me multiple times during the course of our relationship. I kinda had a hunch, this gut feeling, but I’m not someone who would check his phone or question him. I give my partner full freedom and it’s up to him to be honest and have integrity. 

When I found out, it was painful but it was also easier for me to let go, like, “Better now than when we get married...” This wasn’t too long ago lah.

You’re four years older than your onscreen husband Tyler in real life. What’s your take on relationships where the woman is older?

My ex is actually younger than me. (Chuckles) I don’t think age is an issue. It’s more like your mentality, some people can be like… I’ve dated people 10 years older than me but their mentality is immature. I can date guys who are younger, but their mentality is much stronger and older than me. I don’t think age is an issue especially for this generation. 

I don’t really have criteria [when it comes to looking for a partner]. When I was younger, the ‘spark’ was very important, but now I’ve gone through enough relationships to know what I want and to know to have boundaries. I would say it’s not so much about the ‘spark’ anymore. Basic attraction is still needed, but having a partnership is very important now. That’s also why I don’t think age is an issue ‘cos it’s really how you synergise with each other as partners.

Are you dating anyone now?

Unfortunately not. I’m turning 32 (Ferlyn’s birthday is on Feb 1st) and single (Chuckles and lets out an exasperated sigh).

Do you feel pressure to get into a relationship or get married?

When I was in my late 20s, yes. When I was 30, I was dating somebody I thought I would marry. Now, I am not in a rush. I’m okay to be single. I don’t want to just find somebody and settle. If it comes, it comes. 

Does your family rush you to get married?

My mum, yes. (Laughs) She’s always asking me “Eh, you play golf with so many guys, none of them good catch meh?”. 

She’s always asking, but that’s the thing about me: the more you want me to do something, the more I don’t want to do it. (Laughs) I’ll tell her I’m not ready because I just got out of a relationship. 

Did you lean on your family and friends during your break-up?

We got together almost two years ago, and broke up recently. I didn’t lean on my family ‘cos they really liked him, and we were on the way to marriage. The topic was always brought up. 

I didn’t tell my family because I didn’t want them to worry. I wanted them to see me going through it healthily and not like, you know, just crying and stuff like that. I did tell them we broke up, but in front of them, I acted like it didn’t affect me as much as it really did. 

That one was pretty painful ‘cos I tried to overcome my emotions alone. When I confided in my friends, it wasn’t me being sad or crying, it was more like, 'Come on man, talk me out of this'. 

That must have been a tough period for you.

It was very hard because when I was going through the whole emotional roller coaster, I was actually shooting this show. It was a very tough time for me but I feel like the experience made me stronger. 

Did you use work as a distraction?

It was not a distraction and I didn’t want to use work as a medium for me to avoid what I was dealing with. So what I did was… if you understand my character’s story, she also experiences a lot of emotional roller coasters, so I incorporate my real emotions into the story.

There are a lot of emotional scenes, and I did the majority of them in one take. 

So what we see in the show are your real emotions?

Yes... I’m actually quite nervous to watch it myself. When I confided in my friends, when I told my family, I didn’t cry. I wanted to be like, 'I’m fine, it’s just another relationship, I’m fine'. You know?

But when I used my work to pour out my emotions, it was so genuine that sometimes I got a shock afterwards and it would take me a while to contain myself. After the whole scene was done, I needed to take a breather, to get my shit together. (Laughs)

Was Tyler worried when he saw you so sad on set?

He’s very supportive lah, and it was nice to have his support. He knows when it happened, he was one of the first few people I told. I didn’t want him to misunderstand why I was acting… weird (chuckles).

Did you guys develop a close friendship then?

I didn’t know him at the start and we had to [play a married couple] who have been together for seven years. It’s not like the start of a relationship where I look at him with dreamy eyes. I needed to build a relationship with him.

So before we actually started filming, I asked if he wanted to go to couple’s yoga together, and he was like 'yah, why not? Is there such a thing in Singapore?'. We started searching for classes, but we couldn’t find any, so we had to look at other options. I knew he likes to play sports, so that was the only outlet I thought we could use to bond. 

The next time you get into a relationship, will you choose to make it public?

I’ve always made it public. I don’t make an effort to hide my relationships. I mean public as in I don’t make an announcement like “Hey! I’m attached”. But I wouldn't hide it either. I will still hold my partner’s hand when we’re out, and I will bring him to productions and stuff. I won’t trophy my significant other around but I won’t hide it lah. 

So we’re guessing you haven’t dated anyone from showbiz?

I have this weird, okay not weird… but I’m not attracted to people in the industry. That’s the thing. For now lah, I guess. I haven’t met one, so yeah. 

I see couples who are both in showbiz and they’re doing so well because they understand how the life of an actor is. For that part, I do envy them. I just want my partner to respect my job, as much as I will respect his career.

The thing about actors and actresses in Singapore, unfortunately, we don’t gain as much respect as people who have an office desk to sit at.

Photos: Ferlyn G/ Instagram, meWATCH

Catch Ferlyn in I Do, Do I?, on meWATCH or view the first episode below. I Do, Do I? also airs on Channel 8, weekdays, 9pm.