While Sharon Au’s Parisian life is a dream one for many people, the real reason behind her move was to finally be honest with herself.
The 50-year-old was featured in the latest episode of local talk show Those Days Those Places, which will be airing tonight (Jan 27).
During the episode, she met up with her friend Amilus Chou, whom she has known since their undergraduate days at Japan’s Waseda University. Chou, a Taiwanese who is 10 years younger, is also based in Paris and owns a boutique in the city.
They enjoyed a picnic near the Effiel Tower and explored the city together, recounting what they have experienced together since university, including living together for a year when Sharon first moved to Paris and how Chou supported her after Sharon’s home was robbed in 2022.
Towards the end of the episode, Sharon asked if there was anything Chou disliked about her, and the latter recalled scolding Sharon in Tokyo for being a people-pleaser.
Sharon shared that at the time, she had agreed to meet an acquaintance for dinner without thinking it through, but when the time came, she realised she was too tired and couldn’t make it. She added that being a people-pleaser is also what she doesn’t like about herself.
Chou explained she used to think Sharon’s behaviour was due to her need to uphold an easygoing public image as an artiste, but she finally understood her after learning about her background and childhood experiences, including sleeping under a piano and being taken in by a secondary school classmate.
Sharon recounted: “Melisa was my Secondary 1 classmate. I was homeless then, so I slept under the piano [in school]. That was where I spent the nights. When Melisa heard about it, she came to ask me why I did that and invited me to her home.
“She then informed, not asked, her mother, that I will be staying with them from then on. Her mother took me under her care for two years, so I stayed at her home from Secondary 1 to 2.”
Chou told Sharon she realised their upbringing was very different and felt “lucky” she didn’t have to go through a childhood similar to Sharon’s.
“A child in your position is always afraid that people won’t love them. You never knew what it was like to be loved unconditionally. For you, love was always something you had to earn… You felt you had to give so much of yourself first, because the people who were supposed to love you were never there for you,” she added.
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Sharon also shared in a separate interview during the episode that before she joined showbiz, she always tried to project an image of being a “vibrant, fascinating” and “humorous” person, magnifying her emotions to jokes that people said.
She revealed: “People who liked me would say, ‘Oh, she’s so fun,’ and they’d see me as the life of the party. However, there were also those who dislike it. They’d say that I always want to be the centre of attention.”
She also told Chou that her move to Paris was a gift to herself: “I was extremely tired. I didn’t want to keep playing the part of the happy girl anymore. I just wanted to find out what my true feelings actually were.”
While Sharon admires Chou for her ability to say no, the latter assured Sharon that she has been doing well all along.
“You often beat yourself up asking, ‘Why can’t I just say no?’ ‘Why am I doing this to myself?’ You wonder if people look down on you, or if they see your weakness and think they can take advantage of you,” said Chou.
“But that’s not it; you weren’t given the emotional security that most children received as a birthright. It’s not your fault; you’ve already done so well. You couldn’t have done any better.”
Those Days Those Places is now available on demand for free on Mewatch and airs every Tuesday at 8pm on Channel 8.
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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com
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