Xiang Yun recounts being sexually harassed at 7: 'He was kissing me, but I didn't know it'
The actress also said someone molested her at a public event after she joined the media industry.
Local actress Xiang Yun was seven when a man kissed her and made her sit on his lap. PHOTO: Instagram/xiang_yun_
Even after more than 50 years, veteran actress Xiang Yun still remembers a sexual harassment incident that has left its mark.
In the upcoming Mediacorp drama Unforgivable, the 62-year-old plays a psychologist who helps seuxal harassment victims, with the majority of them being underaged and children.
Speaking to 8world, Xiang Yun revealed that she had her own harrowing experience when she seven, and it was in the block of flats she lived in.
It was in the 60s, and Xiang Yun was a Primary One student then. Her family was one of the first residents to move into a local housing estate.
She said, “Because it is the first batch, there were actually not many people in the HDB area. There may only be two or three households living on the 6th floor, and one or two households on the 7th floor. When you go up to the higher floors, there is no one. Most people live on the lower floors.
“My four sisters often ran around and played outside, and a man would appear occasionally. One time he came to talk to me and asked me to follow him."
Xiang Yun was then brought to the stairwell of the higher floors by the man. He wanted to sit and chat with her, but eventually pulled her to sit on his lap.
“Then, he started ‘biting’ my mouth. He was kissing me, but I didn’t know it. I was scared and crying, and started struggling. Fortunately, a neighbour came down from upstairs, and he quickly let me go and ran away,” she recalled.
The image of being violated stayed with Xiang Yun, and she often hid under the dining table and cried for several weeks.
Another molest incident after she joined showbiz
The actress was also publicly molested after she joined the industry.She shared that she was at an event when an unknown man “grabbed my butt” and disappeared through the crowd.
Xiang Yun said, “How disgusting! So every time I hear about similar incidents, I'm very angry, we really can't let these sex offenders off easily!”