Stress shows as foursome have fathered only daughters
HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s famed “Four Heavenly Kings” have thus far fathered only daughters – pointing to their stressful life as celebrities.
When they have no male heirs in the twilight of their lives, stress levels are peaking.
Given their sobriquet in the early 1990s, the foursome of Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai are at the tail- end of their careers.
Jacky and wife May Lo have two daughters. Andy had married Malaysian model Carol Choo in 2008, and their daughter Hanna was born in 2012.
Leon, on the other hand, had married model Gaile Lok in 2008. They had divorced childless in 2012.
Aaron, 51, married Shanghai model Moka Fang in April. Within six months, she had given birth to a daughter.
Why only daughters thus far? A scientific study at Duke University in the United States could provide the explanation.
Duke economist Amar Hamoudi had led a research analysing a random sample of Americans between 1979 and 2010. Their results showed that women who reported higher levels of relationship stress, linked to a increased prevalence of later divorce, were more likely to give birth to girls.
“Girls may well be surviving stressful pregnancies that boys can’t survive,” Hamoudi said. “Thus girls are more likely than boys to be born into marriages that were already strained.”
The Four Heavenly Kings have always been associated with stress.
Girls may well be surviving stressful pregnancies that boys can’t survive. Thus girls are more likely than boys to be born into marriages that were already strained.
Aaron probably leads the pack in this category. Among the four, he has had the largest number of girlfriends.
They included actress Gloria Yip, whom he had met on the set of the movie Saviour of the Soul. Six months later, the romance had sizzled out.
Then came the fling with Norika Fujiwara on the set of China Strike Force in 2000. He had also reportedly dated actresses Lynn Hung and Lynn Xiaong, with the latter relationship lasting some seven years.
So it has been a stressful situation for Aaron, who finally settled down to placate his increasingly worried mother. Likewise, Andy had a stressful time concealing his 20-year romance with Carol. They had met in 1986, and reportedly started dating five years later.
In 1992, Andy denied that he had registered their marriage in Canada. In 2005, Andy had to finally confess after he and Carol were seen cohabiting in Malaysia.
Similarly, Leon had gone through a series of stressful situations.
In a TV interview, he admitted being heartbroken after ending a seven-year relationship with actress Shu Qi in 2004.
He then met model Gaile Lok during a commercial shoot. Three years later, they secretly registered their marriage in Las Vegas. But it didn’t last — they divorced in October 2012.
Since then, the childless Leon has remained single.
Amar Hamoudi, Duke economist