We’re in the same boat, feeling the pain
and pressure from in-laws and parents.”
She hasn’t spoken to her own in-laws
about whether they have seen the show.
She’s hoping they have not.
Now two and a half, Baby G is their
“miracle” child and Christine is out of
“the doghouse” with the Chiu family. Still,
she wants to make sure that her son retains
his Chinese and Taiwanese identity and
the intimacy with his grandparents’ culture,
while embracing the Californian values
that resonate with her. “I still feel confined
by tougher eastern expectations. I don’t
think I get to enjoy the casual vulnerability
of a typical Californian. But I want Baby G
to grow up knowing it’s OK to be mad and
struggle and talk about things openly.”
Naturally Baby G has a trust fund, but
Christine says he must “build his ownlegacy and not measure success by money”.
The naming of the two lodges at the
Prince’s Foundation Health & Wellbeing
Centre in his honour was their seven-month
birthday present to him. (“I have to say we
have been longtime supporters and fans
of Prince Charles for his commitment and
dedication to his people and his country,”
she gushes. “He’s just a really remarkable
man, and so funny too! Really witty — he
has the best sense of humour.”)
For Baby G’s first birthday, the couple
made a $1 million donation in his name to
the Cayton Children’s Museum in Santa
Monica. It was announced at a birthday
party that boasted circus performers,
a ten-course meal and an arcade claw
machine that picked out Gucci presents.
According to Christine, Baby G spoke
sign language before he was a year old,
and today is learning Mandarin, French
and English. During the recent Covid
lockdowns the Chius have converted a
portion of their guesthouse into a school
and hired a tutor. Baby G is taught a broad
curriculum that includes drawing, painting,
global music, drumming, sound healingand yoga. In the afternoons they tend to
the vegetable patch in order to teach him
about sustainability or hang out with the
llamas, borrowed from a rescue programme
after Baby G was “naturally drawn to them”.
Despite all this, Christine insists she is
no “tiger mom”. “I don’t think it was my
parents’ intention, but it was very much
implied that I wasn’t good enough,” she
says. “My A was not good enough because
I should have gotten an A-plus. But I think
it’s the wrong type of push. My son should
know he’s good enough already.”
The show’s grotesque excesses aside,
Christine believes Bling Empire will have
a positive impact on perceptions of east
Asians in America, and on notions of
beauty. “People are considering [us]
beautiful, when all I wanted as a child was
to be blonde and have blue eyes. It is very
heartwarming.” But she is aware acceptance
is fragile and racism is rife. In the past year
President Trump repeatedly called Covid-
the “Chinese virus”, which many believe
was the reason for a sharp increase in hate
crimes against Asian-Americans.
Initially Chiu thought the wave of
discrimination wouldn’t affect her, living
in culturally diverse Los Angeles. But one
Sunday morning this year at a farmers’
market two white men started yelling at
Baby G. “My husband and I had masks and
sunglasses on — it was questionable
whether or not we were Asian — but Baby
G only had a mask on. They were calling
him the ‘China virus’ and telling him to go
home and take this virus with him. I was
shocked that there was still that much
hatred. It woke me up because I thought we
were insulated, being in LA, but we’re not.”
I tell her about a text a friend of mine sent
me about Bling Empire before our interview:
“I am OBSESSED!!!!” She is Chinese-British
and the show struck a chord with her. “It’s
such an amazing portrayal of what it’s like
to be Asian (obviously not the financial side)
but of the importance of family life,” my
friend wrote. “I find it the most relatable
programme I’ve ever watched, even though
they are so different to me. It really hit
home with the things I’ve experienced.
I know that for my mum, for example, the
more westernised we got, the further we
drifted from her. It’s really hard.”
Chiu understands. Since the death of
her mother last year she has started to
reconnect with long-lost family members
back in Taiwan. “I am reviving some
cultural aspects of my background that
were muted,” she says, but then stops
herself. “We are diving into questions that
will be explored in season two, if there is
one,” she explains. “I don’t want to give
away too many spoilers.” A reminder, if
ever one was needed, that her life is now
a soap opera, and it’s clear we have come
to the end of my allotted episode nBling Empire is on Netflix now“People are considering
us beautiful, when all
I wanted as a child
was to be blonde and
have blue eyes”
Top: Christine and Baby G strike a pose as
Kevin Kreider, a friend, looks on. Above: with
the model Kim Lee, left, on Bling EmpireNETFLIX
The Sunday Times Magazine • 13