Marcus Chin, 70, Met His Girlfriend While Filming Golden Age Talentime And They’ve Been Together For Over 10 Years - 8days Skip to main content

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Marcus Chin, 70, Met His Girlfriend While Filming Golden Age Talentime And They’ve Been Together For Over 10 Years

The veteran actor, who stars in Mediacorp drama I Do, Do I?, speaks to 8days.sg about how his girlfriend is more romantic than he is and why love is very important to him.

Marcus Chin, 70, Met His Girlfriend While Filming Golden Age Talentime And They’ve Been Together For Over 10 Years

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In Mediacorp drama, I Do, Do I?, Marcus Chin plays Tho Gim Seng, a tough-love father who struggles with the idea of his daughter (played by Felicia Chin) marrying an Italian man.

Despite the glaring cultural differences between himself and the Italian, who is played by Jason Godfrey, we come to see how Gim Seng sets aside his prejudices and old-school way of thinking to put his daughter’s happiness first. 

When 8days.sg caught up with Marcus over a phone call, we come to realise that the 70-year-old's way of thinking is vastly different from that of Kim Seng’s. One might say that Marcus is more open-minded than many uncles and aunties we know.

In the show, Marcus has a hard time getting along with his daughter's Italian partner

We also come to find out that Marcus is a romantic at heart as he speaks about his girlfriend, the same "lover" he had hinted about but declined to reveal more in an interview with 8days.sg in 2022.

Now, Marcus is surprisingly more generous with the details of his relationship. While he declines to reveal his girlfriend's age and occupation   we do hear from a source that she is in her 60s  he does say that that they are now living together. 

Marcus also offers to send us a photo of them together. Almost immediately, we hear a female voice in the background, saying “Don’t want, don’t want!”

Has she been listening to our conversation the whole time?
 

Marcus celebrating his 70th birthday last year when filming Golden Age Talentime

8DAYS.SG: Your character has a hard time accepting his daughter’s Italian boyfriend in the show. What’s your take on transnational relationships? 

MARCUS CHIN: I don’t have a problem with it at all. I feel that love is love regardless of nationality. In Singapore, we also see marriages between people of different races. It’s common to see mixed-raced couples here and I’m not against it. 

If your daughter dates a foreigner in the future, would you be cool with it?

It’s okay as long as she likes it. I don’t see a point in going against it. I’m already so old, so I shouldn’t stop her from doing what she wants. Perhaps the relationship won’t end up in marriage ‘cos who doesn’t get into several relationships when they’re young? She might be with a Caucasian, but who’s to say she won’t date a Chinese next? If it doesn’t last, she’ll just change again, right?

And if it ends in marriage?

Marry lor. We can’t be against it. If they’re together and in love, it’s not right to forcefully tear them apart. Unless you can tell the guy is a good-for-nothing at first glance… then I’ll probably think of ways to stop her. 

But if I think the guy has good character, I’ll accept it. With my life experience, you can usually tell by the way they talk.

What advice would you give to those who struggle with getting their parents to accept their partners?

I would advise them to not care so much. 

Sometimes, as a parent, you might feel like your daughter can’t judge a person’s character accurately ‘cos they’re too young. What you can do is talk to your child about how you feel, ask them to reconsider, and try to give them advice. 

What if the child is not willing to listen?

Then you have to (breaks into the Frozen theme song) let it go

You don’t have a choice. It’s not possible to lock up your child and shelter them like how it happens in movies.

An old pic of Marcus and his now 13-year-old daughter, Elise

During our interview in 2022, you spoke about your lover. Are you all still together?

Yes, we are. We’ve been together for over 10 years already.  We’re already so old, what’s there to [hide]. I don’t have a problem introducing her to others. In fact, many people already know of her, including my friends in showbiz. We’re always together during gatherings with friends as well. I don’t want to be too secretive about it. At this age, I don’t really bother about what others think. 

How did you two meet?

We met at Golden Age Talentime. She was an audience member who came to watch the live filming of the show. We bumped into each other at the washroom, and we exchanged numbers and started talking. 

Did you have a fear of falling in love again because of your past relationships? 

(In 2009, Marcus, who is married to Taiwanese singer Murong Ying, had an affair with his then-personal assistant Eileen Cheah, with whom he has a daughter Elise, now 13. You can read more about it here.)

I don’t think there’s anything to be scared of. 

Love is just like food. You need to eat. For the Cantonese, there’s a term "煮到嚟就食" (zyu2 dou3 maai4 lei4 zau6 sik6)  which means that when something is cooked and brought in front of you, just eat it first without thinking too much. It means that when you have feelings for each other, then just start [dating]. Don’t reject the fate that comes knocking at your door. As much as we need to eat, we also need love. 

There isn’t a person who doesn’t need love. It’s not good to be lonely. Of course there are a lot of single people who will emphasise that they’re happy alone, but are they really?

Seems like love is very important to you. 

Yes, I feel like a person needs companionship and love. I wouldn’t say I’m very romantic, but I think it’s important to be thoughtful and caring, so the other person can feel it. 

What’s the most romantic thing you’ve done for your partner?

I think she does more romantic things for me than I do for her. She’s a very good cook, and it’s very impressive. She can cook anything. She can steam fish, cook seafood, bake all kinds of pastries and cakes, and even make pineapple tarts. Isn’t that really impressive?

Last year, she made over 400 bottles of pineapple tarts to sell. It was super tough, and everything was sold out.

Photos: Marcus Chin/ Instagram, meWATCH

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

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