Liu Lingling gains strength from late sister Angie Lau: ‘I want her singing to remain in this world forever’

In the final four months of getai singer Angie Lau’s life, she refused visits from her sister Liu Lingling or their mother.

Speaking to AsiaOne recently to promote her new movie A Good Fortune, local singer-actress Lingling recounted: “Her body was weakening and she was bedridden for a while, but she didn’t want us to visit her because she wanted us to think that she was doing well.”

When she eventually allowed people to visit her in the final month of her life, Lingling, 63, said she saw Angie every day, knowing that her days were numbered.

“Her death brought me to a realisation, and that is to treat everyone well. Someone we see today may not be someone we will see again tomorrow.”

Angie died at the age of 58 on Feb 9, 2025, after battling a breast cancer relapse since 2023, which had advanced to stage 4 with the cancer cells spreading to her lymph nodes, lungs, throat, bones and brain.

Her energy and spirit continue to fuel Lingling, and she carries their memories with her every day.

“Life is not just about coming here to complete your rounds and leaving without responsibilities. Everything that she did, such as the Buddhist hymns she sang before… whenever I have a performance, I will play her songs. I want her singing to remain in this world forever,” she added.

Angie, who divorced her husband in 2019, leaves behind a 19-year-old son and a daughter, 17. Lingling shared that while it wouldn’t be easy, she feels responsible for guiding them, together with her own son, on the correct path in life to be a good person.

‘We just treat every day as it is’

Lingling reflected that nothing in life should be taken for granted and it’s a matter of perspective to not treat anything as burdens.

She added: “We must take care of ourselves well… Also, what we can leave behind in this world is not money, but memories and motivation for others. I can only use the memories that Angie left behind to fill my heart. That’s life.”

Lingling also told us they have not been celebrating birthdays since Angie’s death and will not be celebrating Chinese New Year (CNY) this year.

“My mother told me she would think about Angie three times a day: in the morning, afternoon and at night… If we are celebrating and we see that she is not together with her children, we would feel heartbroken. We have cut down all our celebrations and just treat every day as it is,” she added.

Losing $5,000 in phone scam 

In local director Jason Lee’s new CNY movie A Good Fortune, Lingling plays Auntie Hua who falls into debt with a loan shark from a phone scam.

The film centres around the reunion of childhood friends Zihao (Wang Weiliang) and Kaixin (Xixi Lim) after they separated during their secondary school days.

In the present day, Zihao, a Malaysian, runs his late father’s yong tau fu business in Seremban, while Kaixin, a Singaporean, is a struggling influencer. When Kaixin and her mother Auntie Hua flee to Malaysia, Kaixin and Zihao meet each other by chance.

A series of comical mishaps follow as they navigate a high-stakes, million-dollar pineapple tart competition organised by Thai matriarch Mae Noi (Usha Seamkhum from How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies).

We asked Lingling if she had fallen for a scam before and she revealed her mother, 80, was a victim and lost $5,000.

She recounted: “My mum hid the incident from me for a week, refusing to meet or talk to me. I thought she was ill. It was only when I said she had to tell me what happened to her or I couldn’t focus on work that she told me.”

Lingling’s mother said a ‘bank’ had contacted her that she won $200,000 in a lucky draw, but to process the ‘winnings’, she had to transfer $5,000 to them first. After transferring the money, she was told to transfer another $10,000, and she realised then that she had been scammed.

While the elderly woman didn’t make a police report then, Lingling recounted her mother’s experiences later while serving as a scam ambassador for the National Crime Prevention Council, to hopefully prevent others from falling for the same ruse.

Usha Seamkhum accepts role to support director Jason Lee

Thai actress Usha Seamkhum, who rose to fame after her film debut as the titular character in How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024), plays a pineapple plantation owner looking for a successor to her property through a pineapple tart-making contest.

During A Good Fortune’s press conference, director Jason shared that he had messaged the 80-year-old on Instagram about the project. Then, the 30-year-old flew to Bangkok in May 2025 to meet her where they had a meal together.

As Jason had studied Thai for five semesters as an undergraduate at National University of Singapore, he was able to converse with Usha throughout the project and even doubled as her interpreter on occasion.

Usha told AsiaOne in a separate interview that she readily accepted the international project as she wanted to support young directors like Jason in pursuing their passion for film.

The element of agriculture in the film’s premise also spoke to her, as she has a keen interest in botany. Back at home, she grows lots of flowers and especially enjoys harvesting them to produce aromatic Thai dishes.

With A Good Fortune being her second film project, the shift from being a housewife to an actress has been one she greatly enjoys.

“I think that’s more enjoyable than staying at home alone,” she explained to us through an interpreter. “Money is very important and I enjoy the financial independence I have now.”

A Good Fortune is now showing in Shaw Theatres.

Additional reporting by Kristy Chua.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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