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I was born in 1974 in Hong Kong. I have an elder brother and a sister seven years younger than me.
My parents were too busy to take care of us. They delegated us to our grandmother and paid another family to take care of my sister.
I was a born rebel and I loved making my own decisions.
Be it the beauty contest or the plastic surgery, the reporters knew it before my parents did.
Girls’ school is sick. They ignore the fact that half of the population is made up of the sex called “male.”
I was boycotted for going to the school dance in Form 3. They thought it was evil to contact the opposite sex.
An advertising agent asked me to model for a fashion chain store. I thought it was a scam – the agent was called “Piano.”
When I was 16, my family immigrated to New Jersey in the States. The whole town was plagued by boredom and Americanism.
It was a whole new environment and I was living with a stranger… I mean my dad.
He imposed rules and curfews on me... It was like he suddenly decided to become a father when I turned 16. Too late!
I should have dated the non-Chinese guys while I was in the States… I have always regretted that!
I moved back to Hong Kong and worked in IBM after graduation. I was employed because I looked good.
The office job made me fat and boring. I quit and entered a beauty contest with the sole purpose of getting into showbiz.
It was a gruesome experience. We slept for three to four hours each day… And the daily press conference was a battle for attention.
Coming up with ways to win without provoking jealousy proved to be very hard and tiring (if not impossible).
By the end of the show, I just wanted to get it over with.
Like the show “Survivor,” the contestants were tested to their limits and whoever managed to remain sane, won.
There are a lot of people exchanging questionable favors in showbiz, and people just come to accept it as normal.
There are a lot of uncontrollable factors determining one’s success in this industry, and I felt pretty helpless at times.
Waiting is the primary job in this industry.
When you are working, you have to wait until everyone is ready… But most of the time people are simply waiting for chances.
I thought I was beautiful. You can’t help feeling insecure when almost everyone around you is beautiful too.
Hong Kong is a modern city with a close-minded population.
Having sex is always seen as tasting the forbidden fruit… Even if the Eve they are talking about is in her 30s!
I was only going to straighten my nose at first, then the doctor suggested I inject some of my body fat into my face to make it look rounder. I also had Botox and fat-dissolving injections.
In Korea, having plastic surgery is a very common and casual thing to do, but...
Girls there look almost exactly the same. They must have brought the same celebrity photo to the doctor…
The whole operation took an hour and a half. I was only partially anaesthetized. I fell unconscious for 15 minutes and when I woke up, the surgeon was doing some dig- and-drill on my nose… I was freaked out!
I distracted myself by thinking about things like friends, family, future… But they were drilling into my nose!
Beauty comes with a price. Liposuction is very effective - I had it on my arms but it is painful. My arms were swollen and I couldn’t even use them to take off my clothes.
My nose was swollen and I was worried. My friends were very supportive, though some of them were blaming me for causing all these troubles.
My alliance with women has been strengthened after the surgery. Many of them came to me and revealed their little nip-tuck secrets, saying “Hey, actually I had a eye/nose job a few years ago, too…”
Those skeptical ones who were against plastic surgery came and asked me what it feels like. See, most girls want the surgery but they just don’t have the guts to speak up.
You can’t just listen to what a guy says. Many say they prefer girls without makeup… the “natural” kind of beauty.
The truth is, they don’t give a damn about how much makeup you are wearing as long as you look nice.
The age of plastic surgery is definitely coming!


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Former Miss Hong Kong Natalie Ng

Magazines

Former Miss Hong Kong Natalie Ng Man-yan, 32, is the spokesperson for “Be a Lady,” the first Hong Kong company to provide “cosmetic tours” to Korea. Having recently finished her own plastic surgery, she talks to Jan Leung about the mysteries of “having a procedure” and how it feels to see her nose being drilled open.
