Zhu Houren Says His Wife Initially Saw Him As An ‘Uncle' Before Falling In Love

Falling in love with someone from another country as a teenager may sound like the plot of a romance movie, but for Mediacorp actor Zhu Houren and his wife, that's exactly how their love story began.

At the recent press conference for Mediacorp's new drama Old & Dangerous, the 74-year-old actor, who plays a fearless former Special Operations Force (SOF) officer, shared the heartwarming story of how he met his wife, Vera Hanitijo, with 8days.sg.

In fact, when we told his son Joel Choo — who plays the younger version of Houren in the new slice-of-life drama — that we were about to ask his father about his parents' romance, the 32-year-old second-generation star immediately grinned and said: "His story is very interesting one."

As Houren reminisced about meeting his Indonesian Chinese wife, now 69, he couldn't stop smiling.

"She was only 15 years old at that time. She came to Singapore during her school holidays and was living opposite my house," he beamed.

Houren, who was 20 then and serving in the army, recalled returning home one day to find Vera in his house, playing the guitar.

"Wow, I was mesmerised by her and I said: 'This is the woman of my life'," gushed Houren.

Before anyone jumps to conclusions, the actor was quick to clarify that although they first met in 1975, they only tied the knot a decade later, in 1985, when Vera was 25.

"She was legal already, okay?" he laughed.

Despite being just five years older, Houren admitted Vera initially saw him as nothing more than "an uncle".

"I was a fat army boy, she had no interest in me and was just hanging out with an 'uncle'." he quipped.

He made those intentions crystal clear when it was time for Vera to return to Indonesia.

"I sent her to the airport and told her: 'I will go to Indonesia to find you'. Her expression was like: 'Uncle, please don't'," cackled the actor.

True enough, he didn't let distance get in their way. 

"The first time I called her, it was a 45-minute call. It cost more than S$200 back in 1976. My father told me to stop calling her," he recalled.

With international calls proving far too expensive, he turned to old-fashioned love letters instead.

"There was no WhatsApp back then, it cost S$2 to send each letter. One day I went to her house and saw the stack of letters, I thought: 'Wow, that's all money'," he chuckled.

His persistence eventually paid off though they still had one obstacle.

"Back then, if my wife wanted to move to Singapore but did not get Permanent Resident status, she would have to return to Indonesia every six months," he recalled.

Fortunately, things soon took a turn for the better when Houren joined Mediacorp.

"I joined Mediacorp and six months after applying, she got her PR. It's why I never left Mediacorp," he joked.

Reflecting on their decades-long marriage, Houren couldn't help but gush about how much Vera has changed over the years. The couple also have an elder son, Jonathan Choo, 35, who is a full-time independent filmmaker.

"My wife was from a wealthy family. When I first met her, I think she couldn't even make a cup of milk," he mused.

"But after she married me, the entire household is managed by her."

Catch Houren in Old & Dangerous on weekdays 9pm on Ch 8, or on demand for free on mewatch.