PUBLISHED ONMay 15, 2025 10:40 AMByKristy ChuaYour boundaries should not be negotiable but for some, being firm about it can come at a cost.
In an interview with YouTuber Aiken Chia for his Heart to Heart talk show uploaded on May 9, local actress Rui En shared what it was like holding on to her convictions even when others bashed her for it.
The 44-year-old said: "I've always felt uncomfortable doing kissing and intimate bed scenes, much less rape — that is a whole other story altogether.
"So very early on after some time in the industry, I decided, 'Look, I would not want to do these scenes. If you are able to, can you please write it out or can we film it in a different way?'
"There were two other veteran male artistes, I think maybe one or two, who also had this condition about no kissing scenes. But I felt that I was vilified for it as a woman, because I was a woman. And when you're vilified for something like that, the words are 'difficult', 'demanding', 'diva'."
She then further shared her conviction on the portrayal of women on screen: "I don't know why we have to portray female trauma for a character to be liked or for the audience to better sympathise with the character.
"I don't want to sensationalise something traumatic for so many people."
Rui En said that as a public figure, she had always felt like "public property", adding it is "imperative" for her to keep certain things to herself.
Having begun her career at 18 through modelling, she was always managed by agencies even when acting or singing. It was only in 2021 when she was 40 that she left her management agency and went independent, launching her own social media platform for the first time.
She took to Instagram to share more about her personal life and to advocate for mental health.
Rui En explained: "I didn't want to just be an actress. If I can have a platform to help people feel less alone, why not?
"I don't want to just die and look back and be like, 'Oh well, I acted well in that show!' There has to be more."
Last September, Rui En shared on Instagram that she had attended Bible school for three months. She told Aiken she made the decision as she had been depressed, having "hit rock bottom trying to figure out all the changes" in her life.
Besides being confused about her identity, she added she was also trying hard to keep her head above water.
She recalled how she had "always felt ugly", noting she cringed when a friend endearingly called her "beautiful".
Rui En linked her emotions back to her childhood with divorced parents and discussed them in in class.
"It took a while for me to realise but I had been set free from that. It means that I no longer cringe when someone calls me beautiful or I no longer actually, at the core of me, feel ugly — which is something I carried around for a really long time."
She added: "If I had not been so depressed, I would not have [attended Bible school]. It also taught me that rock bottoms are something to be grateful for because sometimes they really do push you to be uncomfortable again."
No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.
For more original AsiaOne articles, visit here.
