Appearing at a hair product launch in Taiwan this week in a gorgeous scarlet Valentino long drape, Taiwan-born, Hong Kong-based actress Shu Qi silenced onlookers as she revealed how she had suffered from low self-esteem as a child.
Shu, who is known for her sexy lips and fulsome smile, said her big lips had made her feel ugly and undermined her confidence as a young girl.
'I used to think of myself as an ugly duckling,' she said. 'I think a lot of girls have probably gone through that kind of transition in their lives, such as what I experienced.
'But the most important thing is to understand yourself better and to search for that special quality in you. Once I'd found mine, I learned that the beauty of a woman is not just about being sexy.'
It took Shu a while to find her 'special' quality in the early stages of her showbiz career, however. She frequently appeared in adult magazines and was cast in soft-core movies such as Sex and Zen II in 1996. It took her almost a decade to land more challenging roles with A-list Chinese stars such as Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Chang Chen.
But her hard work paid off eventually, and she has appeared in more than 50 films, making her one of the most popular actresses in Hong Kong. She picked up her first best actress award on her home turf at Taiwan's Golden Horse Award in 2005 for her role in Hou Hsiao-hsien's Three Times.