Actress Fan Bingbing on social media habits, living with 5 cats and why she’s no longer interested in marriage

Actress Fan Bingbing on social media habits, living with 5 cats and why she’s no longer interested in marriage

SHOWBUSINESS IS A VERY HIGH-STRESS ENVIRONMENT. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH STRESS?

Sleeping is good. When you close your eyes, and sleep, time will just pass. Sometimes when I’m unhappy or if I see something that makes me unhappy, I would just sleep. Once I wake up, I would be okay. I don’t really care about the outside noise. As long as you know that that strength inside you is positive and you are passionate about performance, that’s enough. What people say on the outside, I just block it out. I just do what I think is correct.

DOES RETAIL THERAPY MAKE YOU LESS STRESSED TOO?

I’m no longer crazy about shopping. In my 20s and 30s, yes. I would buy a lot of things, wear a lot of things. I would buy things in all colours. Now everyone is into decluttering. What you can wear every day is limited and our idea of beauty is different now. Shopping is no longer important or a way to relive stress, at least for me.

SO YOU PLAY WITH YOUR CATS?

Yes, I have five cats at home.

FIVE?!

Yes…. They are all Garfield.

I’M GUESSING YOU CAN’T WEAR BLACK AT HOME.

Yes! My sofa can’t be black too. Even though the auntie cleans up every day, their fur gets everywhere.

DO THEY SLEEP WITH YOU?

No. They don’t go up the bed. Cats are not like dogs. They won’t bother about you. If you really want them to come to you, they won’t. You have to run after them. They have a carefree life.

DO YOU WISH TO LIVE LIKE A CAT?

Yes. Cats are very distant. When they want to be close to you, they will. And when they don’t want to, they do a lot of things on their own.

ARE YOU LIKE THAT TOO?

Yes (smiles).

YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH A LOT IN THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS. HOW DID YOU FIND THAT MENTAL BALANCE TO CARRY ON?

I think us humans have a lot of ‘homework’ to do. Life is a very hard thing. In the past, before going through all these tough times, I thought that life was very easy.  You receive too much. And you are too lucky. To me, if you don’t have these tough times or obstacles, your view of life and humanity will be very shallow. After going through it, you will see a lot of different sides of humanity. You realise that you have to go along with humanity to live your life so you won’t be at a loss.

To me, when you’re in a tough place, sometimes friends and family will give you a lot of support. But the only person who can help you stand up again is still yourself. You are your own light. There’s nothing more important that the inner strength inside of you.