'My dad got drunk every day and my parents quarrelled every day': Tony Leung opens up about painful childhood memories

Following his recent confession of experiencing social anxiety, Tony Leung dropped yet another bomb.

The veteran Hong Kong star shared about his painful childhood memories in the second episode of his short documentary In This Moment, Tony Speaks To You released by Douyin yesterday (Feb 2).

He said he used to be an outgoing child but things changed when his father left the family. He recounted memories of his parent's marriage and his relationship with his dad in the latest clip.

The 60-year-old confessed: "When my father left, I started to hide my emotions inside.

"Before he left, my mum and dad quarrelled every day. I felt that my dad got drunk every day… I remembered that every night when I heard them quarrelling, I was so scared that I grabbed my blanket and cried. Apart from feeling scared, I did not know what else to do."

It seemed to have left indelible marks in his memory.

"I will remember that scene forever… I remember that it was winter and cold… Perhaps I had always been a particularly sensitive kid."

Tony also remembered that he had not been happy since then: "When my mum and dad separated, sometimes he would bring me out to play. However, I was not very happy. To be frank I was not happy generally.

"He brought me to play at the amusement park, but I was not happy at all. I could even remember what he wore that day."

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However, he still kept the pictures his father took of him.

One may wonder if Tony's childhood trauma had contributed to his social anxiety. After all, he had said that he loved going to the cinemas as "the two hours I spent in movie theatres allowed me to temporarily escape reality".

He confessed that he also fell in love with acting because "acting lets me vent all of my suppressed emotions."

In the first episode of his short documentary, Tony shared how he likes to be alone. In the third episode, he talked about how mentors guided him in life, and in the fourth, about his commitment to becoming a better person.

jolynn.chia@asiaone.com

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