BEIJING: Actor Dai Xiangyu has been married to Chen Zihan for close to 10 years, and to many, the pair appeared perfectly content to build a life together without kids.
On a recent programme however, Zihan, 47, revealed that the couple had tried unsuccessfully to have children with the help of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).
She had even stopped working for from 2022 to 2025, undergoing 12 cycles of the fertility treatment.
A hashtag to the 57-second trailer for the programme, Our Love Song, which was published on Saturday (Sept 20), quickly trended on Weibo.
“For the baby, I didn’t act for three years. We did about 12 test tube treatments, with daily injections,” said Zihan.
“I absolutely love kids, and I believe children are an important part of one’s life journey,” she said.
Ex-Mediacorp actor Xiangyu, 40, married Zihan in 2016.
Xiangyu had previously stated that Zihan is the ‘braver person’ in the relationship when it came to the question of having children.
“I am not a brave person, and not brave enough to have a child. My wife is more courageous, but this is not something that can just ‘happen’ even if she is brave,” he said during a 2023 interview.
As to whether they would continue to try for a child, he responded that he would “leave it up to fate”.
Zihan also stated the pair’s marriage had once been on the rocks, with Xiangyu bringing up the topic of divorce to her only after sharing his intention with his family.
The reason was because they had been apart for too long and led separate lives.
In the end, the pair chose to try again, working through their problems instead of throwing themselves into work to avoid them.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
