The award-winning actress who gave Asia's richest man three grandsons is making a Hong Kong comeback through theatre, saying motherhood has matured her acting skills.
Isabella Leong Lok-sze, former girlfriend of Li Ka-shing's youngest son and PCCW chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai, will star in stage comedy Sign of Happiness following a near six-year hiatus from local show business.
And her former partner had no role in her professional life, the 25-year-old said. "[He] does not stop me from doing anything," she told reporters yesterday. "Now I'm an independent girl. Acting is very important to me."
Leong was named best actress at the Fantasporto film festival in Portugal for her role in Isabella in 2006. She reportedly met Richard Li in 2008 on the set of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor through Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng, a co-star of the Hollywood blockbuster.
Despite the age difference - Leong was 20 and Li was 41 at the time - they became a couple, giving birth to their first child Ethan Li Cheung-chi in 2009. Twin sons were born the next year and were known to the media only as N. Li and H. Li. They split up in 2011.
Leong did not reappear in showbiz until last year, when she took on a role as a painter in Sylvia Chang's feature film Nian Nian in Taiwan.