At 60, actress Xiang Yun celebrates graduation with her family
She started working after Secondary 4 and went on to become one of Singapore’s most popular actresses.
But Xiang Yun never gave up the dream of further education.
And now at 60, after studying for close to two years, she has become a certified holistic nutrition consultant.
It was challenging to return to student life, she said.
Her son, actor Chen Xi, 31, said he was proud of her, and recalled the sacrifices she made for the family.
She had always stressed the importance of education, he wrote on Instagram.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect myself to get emotional over this. But I always remember how my mom loved to learn; how she never had the chance to complete her education journey due to financial challenges in those days,” he wrote.
“So, like many of them in that generation, she gave it up, started working for the family, and became the woman you knew on the screens.”
Xiang Yun, one of the earliest to be trained as an actress for Singapore TV, appeared in a number of high-profile roles from the 1980s, and in 2011 won the All-Time Favourite Artiste award.
Then, as she approached her 60s, she went back to the classroom, joining the International College of Holistic Health for certificates in Holistic Nutrition and Consultation Skills as well as Diet and Nutrition for Complementary Therapists.
Her husband, actor Edmund Chen, 61, also shared the news of her graduation on social media, noting how hard it was for her to juggle work and lessons for a year and eight months.
Xiang Yun joins a growing number of local celebrities such as Dennis Chew and Suhaimi Yusof, who have proven that the learning never stops no matter how old you get.
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