TAKE away the glittering tiara and composed smile of a Miss Hong Kong, and you might find a woman still aching over a difficult childhood.
A group of the former beauty queens - several of whom grew up with only one parent - have helped open the territory's first self-help centre for single parents.
The former title-holders are members of the Wai Yin Association, which has donated $630,000 - raised at an Easter ball for the rich and famous last year - and is lending its name to the centre.
Other contributors include Oxfam Hong Kong, which gave $340,000, and the Keswick Foundation, which donated $300,000.
Wai Yin past president Pauline Yeung Po-ling, who was crowned Miss Hong Kong and 'Queen of Asia' in 1987, was brought up by her mother after her parents divorced when she was in primary five.
Ms Yeung, now an actress and a partner in a chain of jewellery stores, said she was bitter for years over her parents' separation.